Bathing sites fail to measure up in EU guide

LAST year’s wet summer is being blamed for a downturn in the number of bathing areas meeting EU quality targets.

A report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that while 97% of 131 designated bathing sites met EU mandatory standards in 2007, there was a decrease in the number of areas measuring up to the stricter EU guide values.

“This was due, in general, to the higher than usual rainfall that occurred during the 2007 bathing season which would have the effect of, among other things, causing increased discharges that would impact on bathing areas,” says the quality of bathing water report for 2007.