Nearly all the coastal and inland bathing spots met hygiene standards, according to a report from the European Commission released this week.
Across Europe, 92.5 percent of coastal areas and just over 90 percent of rivers and lakes met the standards, but Germany topped this with 99.5 percent of coastal, and 97.2 percent of inland waters deemed clean enough.
But even with these figures, German waters were still behind a host of other European countries which ranked better, including Denmark, Latvia, Britain, Bulgaria, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus, which topped the list with a 100 percent compliance rate.
Water in only 18 of the more than 2,200 German recognised bathing spots failed to meet minimum water cleanliness standards, the European Commission’s Bathing Water Quality Report said.
The last two decades have seen a continual improvement in water quality at bathing spots across the European Union – back in 1991 only 46.8 percent of Germany’s coastal spots and 14.1 percent of inland waters met hygiene standards.
DAPD/The Local/hc
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