Table of contents
1. Foreword and objectives of the report
Outdoor bathing is consistently among the top public recreational activities in Europe. It is also one of the most accessible ones – at least in the places with good access to clean seas, rivers or lakes. Every summer, millions of Europeans visit seas, rivers and lakes for exercise and recreation. Making sure that these bathing waters attain high enough quality to make these activities safe is thus a key priority for environmental policy and management.
In Europe, as in many other parts of the world, the water quality of coastal waters, rivers and lakes generally degraded from the 19th century onwards, largely owing to growing towns and industries discharging untreated wastewater. Through the 20th century, the increased use of pesticides and fertilisers on agricultural land added chemicals to this pollution ‘cocktail’, and recent evidence (EEA, 2017b) shows that climate change is further degrading water quality in Europe. Excessive nutrient pollution coupled with climate warming is causing eutrophication and even harmful algal blooms. In other words, European water quality in both freshwater and coastal ecosystems is affected by multiple pressures, some of which can interact to intensify their individual effects. Moreover, many river banks, lake shores and coastlines have been structurally modified for flood protection, navigation, tourism, land transportation and construction. Such modifications can also deteriorate water quality, limit self-purification and increase pollution risks.
Since the 1970s, the European Union has introduced numerous[1] environmental policies to improve the health and status of Europe’s waters. One key policy is the Bathing Water Directive (or BWD as it is often known) – originally introduced in 1976 and updated in 2006 – which aims to safeguard public health and recreation through the provision of clean bathing waters. European countries have subsequently made significant water quality improvements at several bathing sites, as well as identifying new sites, and prohibiting bathing at those that did not achieve adequate water quality guidelines.
This report will show how four decades of European water policy and management guided by the Bathing Water Directive has significantly improved bathing conditions across the continent. This represents a significant ‘good news’ story in an era of environmental declines and reported disconnections between people and nature, especially in urban areas. This report gives an overview of how specific water management measures, strategies and practices have been implemented in different places in response to local challenges. These serve as ‘good practice’ examples for management in the future. However, maintaining good bathing water conditions in the future will depend on adaptive management of emerging pressures such as climate change and plastic pollution. The report outlines the nature of these pressures, and their impacts, and highlights the management strategies that might mitigate their effects. The objectives of this report are thus twofold: first, to celebrate the value and importance of bathing waters in the lives of millions of European people; and second, to outline how we might protect and restore bathing sites for decades to come.
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The report indeed focuses more on how the bathing water quality has improved in the past decades, what are the remaining challenges and what threats we will have to tackle to keep the bathing waters safe and clean also in the future. EU legislation associated with BW quality, initiatives and integrated bathing water management are explained in section 3. Conventions, (e.g. Danube River Protection Convention), initiatives and restoration projects (e.g. VrH Juilijcev) are applied to specific case studies when applicable. As report aims to be read by general public we aimed to keep it light and easy to digest. We have however enriched the nature-based solution section and listed few associated EU policy domains (e.g. The Seventh Environment Action Programme, EU Biodiversity Strategy).
The report has been enriched with additional references and projects (JRC reports, scientific articles,...)
We agree with a comment regarding photos and titles - each photo has now a meaningful title describing the content of the photo.
The report does not focus on the EU legislation and does not tackle question whether the existing BWD facilitate the needs of the present and future challenges but rather illustrates ‘good news’ story in an era of environmental declines and reported disconnections between people and nature. The report also outlines emerging pressures, challenges (e.g. climate change, plastic pollution) and their impacts (e.g. rise in temperature, short-term pollutions). The objectives of the report are thus twofold: to emphasize the value and importance of bathing waters in Europe; and second, to outline how we might protect and restore bathing sites for decades to come.
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The Report is overall nicely compiled and addresses most issues related to the quality of bathing waters. The country examples in the boxes are well chosen. Text, boxes and photos are well balanced.
However, the report could have been drafted more precisely by citing more clearly the relevant EU and other initiatives and projects as done in chapter 5.2 on litter. For example, Nature Based Solutions are mentioned without citation of the respective EU initiative.
Many citations seem to refer to EEA reports which gives the impression of circulating within the EEA knowledge hub. Other initiatives, strategies, projects outside of EEA could have been mentioned and cited more frequently.
It would be helpful if photos would have a title to know, if they show the bathing water mentioned in the box or some other water body.
It is a bit unclear, what the aim of the report is: should the BWD be amended? Is something missing? Is it fit for purpose or not? Is a revision of the BWD planned? Is it just information on state of the art? Usually, EEA reports aim to address insufficient legislation or insufficient implementation, which does not seem to be the case here.
As this is an EEA report and EEA is covering more than the EU countries, it would be useful to add a chapter on regulation of bathing water quality outside of the EU countries. Are there WHO guidelines on bathing water quality? How is the quality assured on beaches in prominent holiday destinations like Turkey? How is the Blue Flag related to bathing water quality? Such chapter would put the achievements of the BWD into perspective and give added value to the report.