Water Quality in Slovenia - Agencija RS za okolje

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2.4.2
W A T E R Q U A L I T Y I N S L O V E N I A
Quality of Bathing Water
In our modern way of life, it is almost impossible for us to dedicate some time to sports and recreation,
even though Slovenian rivers, lakes and a part of the Adriatic Sea offer various water-related sports -
from traditional bathing and boating for relaxation to adrenaline-inducing white-water descents over
waterfalls and rapids. With the intention of protecting bathers’ health, in 1976 within the European
Union region the Bathing Water Directive (48) was adopted. The requirements of the directive were
fully transposed also into Slovenian legislation in 2003 (49, 50). Its implementation is shared by
Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning and Ministry of Health. The quality of bathing water
is monitored in 37 natural bathing waters during the bathing season, which lasts from 15th June to
31st August in fresh waters and from 15th June to 30th September in coastal waters. During this
period, bathing water is sampled at least every 14 days. In bathing waters where bathing is explicitly
authorized, the bathing water quality monitoring is organised by the bathing water operator who
provides the data to the bathing water register at the Institute of Public Health of the Republic of
Slovenia; in the other bathing waters, monitoring is carried out by the Environmental Agency of the
Republic of Slovenia (51). During the sampling, the presence of visible impurities, phenols, mineral oils
and surface-active substances are assessed, and in the laboratory, further physico-chemical analyses
(phenols, mineral oils, surface-active substances) and analyses for the presence of microbiological
pollutants (total coliforms, feacal coliforms and feacal streptococci) are carried out. The quality results
are presented in annual report on the quality of natural bathing waters (47) and also in report to the
European Commission on the implementation of the Bathing Water Directive (52), which must be
sent to the competent institutions in Brussels by the end of each year. Based on the Member States’
annual reports, the Commission draws up a summary report and publishes it on the internet (53),
with the aim to inform the public on the quality of bathing water quality in the European Union and
in each individual Member State. The information about the bathing water quality is also available
on the information boards set up in the bathing water areas; in addition, all reports are available on
the websites of the Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia and of the Institute of Public
Health of the Republic of Slovenia.
Already at the end of 2004, Slovenia has for the first time reported to the Commission the results of
the bathing water quality, even it had been a member of the European Union for only six months. Our
reporting obligation is carried out with diligence and the monitoring data from 2004 to 2006 (Chart
8) show that occasionally exceeded microbiological parameters were the only reason for the noncompliance
of the freshwater and coastal bathing waters. Considering the strict statistical evaluation