List of bathing sites for 2023 coming soon

The weather is about to turn summer-like, with the long May weekend ahead. It’s time to think about water quality and the safety of bathers. The places this year that are permitted for bathing should already be known and designated. All applications, along with the resolutions of each municipality, were forwarded to Polish Water, the owner of the waters, the competent authority of the Environmental Protection Inspection, and the State District Sanitary Inspector for an opinion.

Currently, individual municipal councils determine, by resolution, the bathing season. The documents should be ready by May 20 and indicate the start and end dates of the season (the period between June 1 and September 30), as well as all designated bathing areas in the municipality.

In a future issue, we will publish a guide to bathing and bathing places with a map.

Swimming pools in the field of interest of the European Commission

Every year, before the start of the bathing season, the Chief Sanitary Inspector submits information to the Commission on the number of bathing sites and the reason for the change from the previous year. The information is intended to produce a report on the state of bathing water. EU bathing water regulations specify when water quality can be classified as “excellent,” “good,” “sufficient” or “insufficient,” depending on the amount of fecal bacteria detected. In cases of insufficient quality – we get a warning in the form of a message and a bathing ban is imposed. Thanks to systematic monitoring, introduced by Directive 2006/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of February 15, 2006, concerning the management of bathing water quality and repealing Directive 76/160/EEC, bathing water quality is steadily improving.

All environmental regulations to date, including the Council Directive of May 21, 1991, on the treatment of municipal wastewater, have led to a significant reduction in the amount of untreated or only partially treated municipal and industrial wastewater entering bathing waters. As a result, swimming is also possible in many previously heavily polluted surface water areas located in cities.

We will write about where swimming will be possible and where bathing areas have been designated for the 2023 season in the next issue of Water Issues.