Summer Vacation To Europe And Want To Try Outdoor Swimming? Austria's Best Choice

JAKARTA - If you are planning a summer vacation where you can be one with nature and satisfy your swimming passion, then Austria should be on your radar.

That's because the landlocked mountainous nation has the cleanest bathing water among European Union countries, according to a new study by the European Environment Agency.

Analyzing water from 21,859 bathing sites last year, the agency found Austria had the best natural swimming sites, with 97.7 percent of its waters being of excellent quality.

Just behind Austria is Malta, with the island destination recording excellent readings in more than 96 percent of its baths.

Following five countries behind him in a row, namely, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark and Germany, with more than 90 percent of natural baths offering excellent water quality.

Meanwhile, after leaving the European Union, British waters were not assessed by researchers, as reported by The National News June 10.

Italian and Spanish Mediterranean holiday hotspots ranked only 12th and 13th in the study. While France, the most visited country in the world, is only ranked 22nd.

Poland was the lowest ranked country in this study. Only 44 percent, or 299, of the Baltic nation's wild swimming pools were considered to be of excellent quality, and another 16 were deemed to be of poor quality.

In total, 332 baths will have low water quality by 2021. Six countries recorded three percent or more of poor quality swimming spots including Estonia, France, the Netherlands, Latvia, Slovakia and Sweden.

It is known that EU countries must close any places deemed unsatisfactory for the upcoming bathing season and, if these places continue to rank poorly for five consecutive years, must permanently restrict access to baths.

In 2021, Italy closed 31 sites, France stopped people from swimming in eight waters, the Netherlands closed two sites and the Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland and Sweden all closed one site.

If you're wondering whether it's better to swim by the sea or choose to swim in a lake, the answer is to go to a beach site.

The study found that the water is generally of better quality than inland waters, with 88 percent of coastal areas classified as excellent, compared to more than 78 percent of inland sites.

This is usually due to the higher self-purifying capacity of coastal areas, compared to small lakes and ponds that are prone to short-term pollution from things like heavy summer rains or droughts.