The water at Europe’s beaches, rivers and lakes was generally of high quality in 2013, with more than 95 % of these sites meeting minimum requirements. Over two thousand beaches in Greece were monitored and 93.2% fulfilled the conditions which are classified as "excellent quality," placing Greece 5th in the 28-member European Union.

The annual report for bathing quality water was published on May 27 by the European Environment Agency (EAA), which monitors the quality of water in 22,000 bathing sites all over the EU, Switzerland and for the first time in Albania. Other countries in the report also performed well: all bathing sites in Luxembourg and Cyprus are deemed “excellent.” Malta ranks third at 99% excellent quality waters as well as Croatia with 95%.

The local authorities – the Special Secretariat for Water at the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change - collect and monitor samples at local beaches during the bathing season. Waters can be classified as "excellent," "good," "sufficient" and "poor quality." These classifications are based on the levels of two types of bacteria which indicate pollution caused by wastewater or livestock waste. These bacteria can cause illnesses, such as vomiting or diarrhea, in the case of ingestion.

See the EEA Report: European bathing water quality in 2013 (No 1/2014)