Belgium sits among the worst performing EU countries in terms of the cleanliness of its bathing water sites, according to a new report by the European Environment Agency (EEA).
Out of the bloc's 22,010 bathing sites evaluated last year, 84.8% were considered to have “excellent” water quality, a comparable result to the 2024 EEA evaluation.
The report analysed whether bathing water met the quality requirements outlined in the 2006 Bathing Water Directive, by evaluating the faecal matter contamination through the presence of the bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) and intestinal enterococci.
Among the types of evaluated locations are inland bathing areas, such as lakes and rivers, and coastal sites.
"Europe's bathing water results once again demonstrate the value of EU environmental legislation and decades of investment in wastewater treatment and water management," said European Environment Commissioner, Jessika Roswall, adding that continued action is needed to tackle challenges such as pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss.
Belgium falls below EU average
In Belgium, just under 70% of bathing water sites were deemed to be “excellent” during the 2025 bathing season. The country ranked just below Slovakia (70.0%), but ahead of Hungary (64.0%), Poland (58.7%) and Estonia (56.9%).
Regarding coastal bathing water, 63.4% of Belgium's sites were deemed to be "excellent” while the rest were considered "good”. The country fell below the EU average of 88.0% “excellent” sites.
Belgium's coastal water quality ranked ahead of Finland (55.0% excellent coastal water sites) and Estonia (40.0% excellent coastal water sites), but well below the top-performing countries, namely Cyprus, Lithuania and Slovenia (all with 100% excellent coastal water sites).
Coastal bathing water quality by country in 2025. Credit: EEA
In terms of inland bathing sites, Belgium once again ranked below the EU average. While an average of 78.2% of bathing sites in the bloc were deemed as “excellent”, only 70% of Belgium's inland locations had "excellent” water quality.
Additionally, the quality of 22.2% of Belgium's inland sites was considered "good", 4.4% "sufficient", and 1.1% "poor".
The top-performing countries in terms of inland water quality last year were Austria (96.5% “excellent”), followed by Finland (94.7% “excellent”) and Denmark (94.3% “excellent”).
Meanwhile, Spain was the lowest-performing country, with only 53.1% of inland sites considered to have “excellent” water quality. The country ranked just below Croatia (54.8% “excellent”), Poland (56.7% “excellent”) and Portugal (56.9% “excellent”).
Inland bathing water quality by country in 2025. Credit:EEA
The EEA 2025 report included the evaluation of 22,010 sites across all 27 EU Member States and 279 sites in Albania and Switzerland.
The full report was based on data reported by the EU Member States, Albania and Switzerland, for the 2022-2025 bathing seasons.
Regarding coastal bathing waters, 14,861 sites across 22 Member States and Albania were monitored in 2025.
For inland water sites, a total of 7,428 bathing sites on rivers and lakes were monitored across 25 Member States, Albania and Switzerland.
