These Lakes Can Make You Sick While Swimming
While the quality of lakes and coastal beach baths in Europe is generally good, there are holiday spots where swimming should be avoided-even in Germany. We tell you which ones they are.
The European Environment Agency (EEA) tests around 20,000 waters each year-including small lakes and coastal beaches-in Europe for pollutants and bacteria. Approximately 96.3 percent of the tested swimming sites meet the minimal requirements for bathing, and 85 percent have even 'excellent' water quality, according to the 2016 EEA report. The figure was 78.1 percent in 2015.
Germany ranks only seventh in Europe for the quality of its bathing waters. At 91 percent of the 2,292 tested sites, the water quality is excellent, 5.8 percent received a 'good' rating, and 1.3 percent were deemed 'sufficient'. Poor water quality was found by the EEA in 0.2 percent of German bathing waters. So there are bathing spots to avoid even in Germany, including some at the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
- Beach | Water Quality
- Tremt in Sundhagen, | poor
- Birkenallee Bathing Site at Dümmer See, | poor
- Seestraße Bathing Site at Dümmer See, | poor
- Finsterroter See, | poor
- Kocherbadebucht in Künzelsau, | poor
The portal Travelcircus has also identified bathing sites rated as 'sufficient'-meaning the minimal requirements are met. 'There is no health risk there,' says Travelcircus upon inquiry by bettercities.net. However, there are usually significantly better sites nearby.
- Szczecin Lagoon, | sufficient
- Freistrand in Laboe, | sufficient
- Barth Bathing Site in the Glöwitzer Bay, | sufficient
- Uplewards, | sufficient
- Zippendorf Beach at Schweriner See, | sufficient
- Strandbad Eriskirch at Lake Constance, | sufficient
- Dornumersiel, | sufficient
Luxembourg has the best-quality bathing sites
According to the EEA ranking, Luxembourg has the best water quality in Europe. All 11 tested bathing sites had excellent water quality. Cyprus follows in second place with 99.1 percent, and Malta is in third place with 98.9 percent.
Italy has the most poor-quality waters in the EU: 100 out of 5,518 tested, which is 1.8 percent. Bathing sites around the major cities of Rome and Naples are particularly affected.
France follows with 82 poor-quality bathing waters out of a total of 3,350 tested (2.4 percent), and Spain (39 out of 2,191, or 1.8 percent). In Spain, you should especially avoid beaches in the Galicia region. 20 sites have poor water quality.
To avoid health risks, you should inform yourself about the quality of bathing water before your vacation. You can do this on the European Environment Agency map.