June, 2005 - Nr. 6
Water in Germany clean and clear
TWIG - Germany’s lakes, rivers, and oceans are cleaner than ever, according to a 2004 report by the EU Commission on the quality of water. The report is the first major report on water quality to be issued that includes figures from the ten new EU member states.
Germany’s northern coast, 98.7% of the country’s beaches met EU water quality requirements. In its inland waterways, including rivers and lakes, that figure was 95.1%.
The country’s much loved lake-goers can bask in the quality of Germany’s inland waters, 91.3% of which meet the strictest EU guidelines for lakes, up from 82.7% last year. Only 0.3% of Germany’s lakes were deemed unsuitable for swimmers.
According to the report, the worst water is found in Slovakia, where 43.2% of the beaches, rivers and lakes fall short of EU requirements. In western Europe, Italy fared poorly, with a failure rate of 31.5%.
Overall, EU water quality decreased slightly with the addition of the ten new member states that joined the European Union in May, 2004, signalling that there is still much to do to get the new member states up to speed with regard to environmental concerns.
The European Commission lists the quality of water as one of
the most important and most direct environmental factors affecting all
Europeans.
Republished with permission from "The Week in
Germany"
