Scottish Environment Protection Agency

Every year, the European Environment Agency (EEA) compiles bathing water data gathered by local authorities across the 27 European Union member states, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Albania - measuring levels of bacteria from sewage and livestock. More than two thirds of sites are coastal beaches, with rivers and lakes making up the remainder.

Ninety-seven percent of bathing sites monitored last year in Greece were found to have excellent water quality, according to a report by the European Commission and the European Environment Agency (EEA) published Thursday.
The annual report monitors bathing sites across the European Union that meet the "most stringent quality standards for water cleanliness."

The overwhelming majority of Greece's bathing waters met European Union water quality standards in 2017, according to the European Environment Agency.

In its annual report, the agency said that 95.9 percent of all existing coastal bathing waters are of excellent quality, behind Luxembourg (100 percent), Malta (98.9 percent) and Cyprus (97.3 percent).

In Bulgaria, 69 out of a total of 94 bathing waters or 73.4 % were deemed as being of excellent quality in 2014.

This is shown by the 2014 report on the bathing water quality in Europe, which was issued by the European Environment Agency (EEA) on Wednesday.

By Barbara Lewis

Europe's inland and coastal waters have become cleaner and nations such as heavily-indebted Greece and Cyprus boast some of the most pristine bathing spots, according to this year's EU report on water quality, published on Wednesday.