Summer is upon us, and it’s time to reach for your swimsuit. In Europe, there are numerous beaches and lakes to choose from. And the good news is that according to the latestEU bathing water report, most of them meet ‘excellent’ standards.

Some 85% of the 22,200 European bathing sites monitored meet the stringent ‘excellent’ standard, while 96% of all EU sites monitored meet the minimum quality standard. Only 1.5% are rated as ‘poor'.

Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece have the highest share for excellent quality bathing waters. Rivers and lakes rate slightly lower - 78% - than coastal waters - 88% - for ‘excellent’ bathing water.

This high quality of European bathing waters is largely due to the sustained impact of EU laws on water quality. This includes:

Thanks to these continued efforts, people can now swim in many formerly heavily polluted urban waters and rivers.

If you’d like to check out where’s best to swim this summer, the European Environment Agency has put together aninteractive mapindicating the safest swimming sites in Europe.

Interactive map of Europe’s safest swimming sites

Press release: Europe's bathing waters remain safe to swim