The majority of French waters remain safe from a health perspective, says the Directorate General of Health

In more than 90% of French bathing sites, the water quality is good or excellent from a health perspective, health authorities summarised on Monday 22 July, reporting a rate similar to previous years. “The results of microbiological analyses carried out during the 2023 bathing season on 3,361 bathing sites – 1,286 in fresh water and 2,075 in sea water – show that nearly 90.4% of the sites are of excellent or good quality”summarized the General Directorate of Health (DGS) in a press release.

The assessment, carried out each year on more than 3,000 French bathing sites, aims to evaluate their health risks. In particular, it measures the presence of E. coli bacteria and the enterococcus family. The findings change little from one year to the next. In 2022, 90.1% of French bathing sites were judged to be good or excellent in terms of health.

By adding the category of sites deemed just sufficient, the proportion now reaches almost 95%. There remain 99 sites whose quality is deemed insufficient, again a figure that changes little. In detail, fresh water remains a little riskier than sea water. The latter is judged to be of good to excellent quality at 92.7%, compared to 86.6% for the former.