Lisbon, June 20, 2025 (Lusa) - The ecological organisation Zero highlighted on Friday the need for further improvements, citing a report by the European Environment Agency on the quality of bathing water in Portugal that shows room for growth, with current excellence ranking below the average for 29 European countries.
“While we do have a significant percentage of beaches with excellent quality, We always base this analysis on the last bathing season, 2024”, and the “trend in recent years shows the percentage of excellent beaches moving toward 82.6%, down from 88.5% in 2021, which is below the European average of 85%”, said Francisco Ferreira.
The president of Zero - Associação Sistema Terrestre Sustentável (Sustainable Land System Association) spoke to Lusa after the European Environment Agency released a report, according to which 82.6% of bathing waters are of “excellent” quality, 10.8% are classified as “good” and 1.3% are of “poor” quality.
The association classified more beaches as “Zero Pollution” (increasing from 59 to 81), and more beaches now fly Blue Flags (rising from 398 to 404). Francisco Ferreira still highlighted that beaches classified as poor present “indicators that show, without a doubt, a growing problem.” The number of beaches with poor quality increased from three (0.4 %) in 2023 to nine (1.4 %) in 2024.
“Of these nine, one remained closed during the 2025 bathing season, which is the case of Ilhéu de Vila Franca do Campo beach, on the island of São Miguel, in the Azores, but the other eight are open and, therefore, hence our advice for users to take care, looking at the information that should be available, because these are beaches with an increased risk," he said.
In a statement, Zero pointed out that, in the report on the European Union, Albania and Switzerland, Portugal recorded 82.6% of bathing waters of excellent quality, compared to the average of 85% for the 29 countries, but “there is room for further improvement in the observed trend” over the last four years, from 88.5% in 2021, 84.8% in 2022, 86.2% in 2023, and 82.6% in 2024.
“This contrary trend, which is particularly marked in terms of the reduction in beaches with excellent quality, deserves assessment by the Portuguese Environment Agency and the Regional Environment Directorates in the case of the Azores and Madeira, given their responsibilities for water resource management,” the note states.
Eight bathing waters demonstrate “excellent” or “good” quality, while nine still show “poor” quality; of these nine, six lie on the mainland, two in Madeira and one in the Azores, namely Benfeita (Arganil), Sandomil (Seia), Matosinhos, Almaceda (Castelo Branco), Fragas de São Simão (Figueiró dos Vinhos), Relva da Reboleira (Manteigas), Poças do Gomes/Doca do Cavacas (Funchal), Maiata (Machico), and Ilhéu de Vila Franca do Campo.
“It is essential that we identify the causes of this poor quality and that the authorities act accordingly, to see if they are problems with wastewater treatment, if they are problems with nearby industries, there may be several causes, but the fact is that the trend, when we consider recent years, offers room for improvement,” said Francisco Ferreira.
The head of the non-governmental organisation explained that inland beaches are “more vulnerable” because they lack “the dilution capacity of the ocean”, and of the nine poor beaches, five are inland.
“This is also related to the fact that 2024 was a year of drought, so the dilution of some contamination and pollution was lower, but we must bear in mind that inland beaches are crucial also to relieve pressure on the heavily occupied coastline,” he stressed.
In this regard, Zero recommended in its note that those who frequent these bathing areas “pay particular attention to information and warnings from the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), given that their history shows a strong possibility of contamination problems”.
The association concluded that the APA has launched a dedicated website this year called InfoÁgua, which can be consulted at https://infoagua.apambiente.pt/pt/praias, for information on the 673 bathing waters identified, of which 605 are monitored during this bathing season.
LFS/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
