EU report shows deteriorating bathing water quality in Malta

The quality of Malta's bathing waters is continuing to deteriorate, while sites in Cyprus, Bulgaria, Greece, Austria and Croatia stand out for their quality, a report by the European Environment Agency, based on 2025 data, shows.

"The highest share for excellent quality bathing waters is found in Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece — with a total of 95% or higher", the agency said on Tuesday.

In Malta's case, 88.5% of sites were found to be excellent, compared to 92% in the previous year and 94.3% in 2022. 

Malta's bathing water quality has continued to deteriorate, data by the European Environment Agency shows.

Water quality can be classified as "excellent", "good", "sufficient" or "poor", depending on the level of detected faecal contamination.

9.2% of Malta's sites were 'good' and 2.3% 'sufficient '.

The Nationalist Party last week launched a webpage tracking incidents of sea contamination. The  ‘Factcheck: Sea Water Quality’ page features weekly water quality ratings for popular bathing spots, including Balluta Bay, St George’s Bay, Ġnejna Bay and Exiles Bay, based on publicly available government data.

Polluted waters can, if ingested, cause illness, including gastrointestinal problems and diarrhoea.

The EEA report was based on data from more than 22,000 bathing sites in the 27 EU member states in 2025, as well as non-EU countries Albania and Switzerland.

Only 1.5 percent of bathing sites studied in the report had "poor" water quality.

A total of 89 percent of coastal areas across the region were classified as "excellent", compared to 78 percent of rivers and lakes. Lakes, rivers and streams are more sensitive to short-term pollution caused by heavy rains and summer droughts.

At the bottom of the table was Albania, where 23.5 percent of its sites were graded as "poor".