Of the 82 covered beaches on the Montenegrin coast, the water is of excellent quality on three quarters of the beaches, and good or satisfactory on the rest, according to the report of the European Environment Agency "Water quality at European bathing sites in 2011".
The water is of excellent quality on 73 percent of the beaches, and on the rest it is good or satisfactory, the portal reported EurActiv Serbia. Montenegro submitted a report on water quality to the Commission for the first time in 2010.
For example, as stated, the water quality at Petrovac beach or in Rafailovići is excellent. In the Herceg Novi region, out of 20 beaches, the water on 60 percent of them is of excellent quality, 30 percent is good or satisfactory, and not enough samples were taken from 10 percent.
On the seven beaches around Kotor, in 2011, more than 20 percent of the water was excellent, and the rest of the bathing areas were rated good or satisfactory. This is an improvement compared to 2010, when the water quality on all beaches in the Kotor area was satisfactory.
Big beach in Ulcinj
On the beaches around Bar, absolutely all beaches have excellent water for swimming, while on the 13 beaches of Ulcinj, more than 70 percent of the water is of excellent quality, which is also an improvement compared to 2010, when the water on all beaches was rated as "good" or "satisfactory". .
The beaches of Cyprus, Croatia, Malta and Greece have the cleanest water, as more than 90 percent of the bathing spots in these countries met the highest quality standards and received an excellent rating, according to the report.
On the other hand, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Latvia, Luxembourg and Belgium have a relatively small number of bathing facilities that meet the basic quality parameters, especially beaches on rivers and lakes.
The European Environment Agency and the European Commission publish an annual report on the water quality of more than 22.000 bathing places, including seas, oceans, rivers and lakes, but not swimming pools and spas. This year's report "Water quality at European swimming pools in 2011" includes 27 EU members, Croatia, Montenegro and Switzerland.
Strict standards for beaches
Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potočnik expressed satisfaction that the quality of water globally is at a high level and that it has been improving in recent years.
"The vast majority of Europeans are concerned about the quality of Europe, and they want more information about it," he added.
Professor Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the European Agency for Life Energy stated that in some countries there are still problems with water and beach pollution due to agriculture and sewage.
In Malta, Romania, Slovenia and Croatia, all swimming pools meet basic quality standards.
In Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Austria, Poland, Montenegro, Great Britain, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Portugal and Germany, more than 95 percent of swimming pools meet the mandatory quality values.
Bathing water in the EU must comply with the standards set out in the 2006 Bathing Water Directive, which must be fully implemented by December 2014.
Water quality is graded as excellent, good, satisfactory or poor. The directive obliges the member countries to ensure that by the end of the 2015 bathing season, the water in all swimming pools has at least a satisfactory level of quality.
The new directive is stricter compared to the previous regulation from 1975, as it stipulates that members regularly report the presence of escherichia and intestinal enterococcus. These bacteria can be an indicator of pollution, mainly from sewage or animal excrement.
According to the directive, the water on beaches at the sea is of excellent quality if up to 100 Escherichia coli and a maximum of 250 enterococcus are counted in 100 milliliters of water in at least nine samples out of ten.
The directive also provides for an adequate assessment of water quality, in terms of the presence of dirt or glass.
Two-thirds of the places for swimming are beaches on the sea and the ocean, and the rest of the beaches are on lakes and rivers. The most beaches are in Italy, Greece, France and Spain, while Germany and France lead in terms of the number of beaches on lakes and rivers.
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