This summer, many French people are going to take a dip in the sea, a river or a body of water. franceinfo takes stock of what the law says about these bathing waters.
Extreme heat and a strong desire to swim. Météo-France classified, on Saturday July 15, the Alpes-Maritimes on orange alert for the heat wave and reported a still very marked heat in the eastern half of the country. To cool off, with temperatures easily exceeding 30°C in some places, many French people go swimming. The authorities list 3,355 bathing sites in France, 61.5% at sea and 38.5% in fresh water, according to a count in 2021.
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French law defines, in article L1332-2 of the Public Health Code, as bathing water “any part of the surface waters in which the municipality expects a large number of people to bathe and in which the competent authority has not permanently prohibited bathing”.
These bathing waters are inventoried annually by the municipalities, explains the Ministry of Health. This census must be carried out before the start of each bathing season and plans to take the opinion of the public into consideration. The local authorities are responsible for bathing sites. From a regulatory point of view, they are divided into three main categories: free locations, authorized locations and prohibited locations. Not to mention private swimming pools, which must be equipped with safety devices.
Areas where swimming is authorized at the risk and peril of the users
Most of the waters of the national territory are classified as free sites. Concretely, swimming is free without restriction in any body of water (sea, pond, river or lake) which is not the subject of a particular safety organization and to which access is free, explains the site nageur-sauveteur.com.
The swimmer therefore swims there at his own risk. A concept that the municipality must recall by way of display by also indicating the non-visible dangers, recall the bathing guides provided by the prefectures. Be careful, these places carry risks. In its 2021 DROWNING survey, the Ministry of Sports explains that in bodies of water, 62% of drownings occurred in an unsupervised bathing area. The figure rises to 98% for watercourses (river, stream, channel, canal).
Developed areas where swimming is supervised
Authorized and equipped sites are places which are the subject of a specific arrangement intended to facilitate and encourage bathing for the public. It is considered that this development constitutes an incentive to bathe and supervision must be compulsory. Swimming is authorized by municipal decree specifying the periods, areas and hours of surveillance. On the entire French coast, bathing areas have been delimited since 2022 by two two-tone flags, red at the top and yellow at the bottom. This signage is supplemented by a flag which must be visible from the entire bathing area, with three colours: green for “supervised bathing without apparent danger”, yellow for “supervised bathing with limited or marked danger” and red for “no swimming“.
Supervision generally takes place during the bathing season, which is variable. For mainland France, the period generally chosen is from June 15 to September 15 for swimming at sea and from July 1 to August 31 for swimming in fresh water. In the overseas departments, the bathing season generally covers the whole year. Note that according to the site nageur-sauveteur.com, an authorized bathing site cannot be downgraded without a serious reason.
Access to these bathing facilities is generally free, but it may be subject to an entrance fee in the case “physical and sporting activity establishments in which aquatic, bathing or swimming activities are practiced or in which these activities are part of the provision of services” (article L.332-12 of the Sports Code).
Areas where swimming is dangerous and prohibited
The mayor of a municipality can prohibit swimming in a location by virtue of his police power, recalls Le Figaro. This prohibition may be justified for safety reasons such as quicksand, rocks or strong currents, or public health such as the presence of green algae, bacteria or pollution. Mayors must indicate with visible signs the places where swimming is dangerous and therefore prohibited. Those who defy this ban are liable to a fine of generally 38 euros.
Voies navigables de France (VNF), the public establishment operating the State responsible for managing, in particular, the canals, recalls for its part that “the canals and rivers of its network are not made for swimming, except for landscaped areas”. He insists on the dangers specific to swimming in the river: violent and sometimes unsuspected currents, sometimes difficult going up the banks, poor visibility under water, etc. But also the danger of submerged obstacles which, in the event of a jump, can prove fatal: concrete blocks, metal piles, piles of rocks… VNF reminds you that swimming is prohibited “upstream and downstream of locks and dams, and even inside locks, because of the danger represented by these structures and the maneuvers carried out there”. VNF lists on its site some of the authorized bathing sites on the river network.
Areas where bathing may be suspended for health reasons
From a health point of view, the classification of natural bathing water is based on the analysis of two microbiological parameters (Escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci), recalls the Ministry of Health in a summary in 2021. These data are public and accessible.
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Among all these sites, 97% underwent a sanitary control of the quality of their bathing water (3,257) according to the Ministry of Health in 2021. 98 sites were not classified due to their closure during the bathing season or insufficient samples to proceed with their classification. Nearly 34,000 water samples were taken to analyze water quality as part of the health checks implemented by the Regional Health Agencies (ARS). At the end of August 2022, swimming was prohibited in particular as a preventive measure in Dunkirk due to analysis results that have raised doubts about water quality.
Private swimming pools
They are not classified as bathing waters within the meaning of the law, but they too are subject to obligations: private swimming pools for individual or collective use must be equipped with a standard safety device to prevent the risk of drowning. This concerns both family swimming pools and those of residences, hotels, campsites or rural lodges. But not the swimming pools posed on the ground, inflatable or removable. The owner is required to install at least one of these devices: protective barrier, sound alarm system, safety cover or veranda-type shelter that completely covers the pool. If none of this equipment is installed, the owner risks a fine of 45,000 euros.