Now we are getting closer and closer tosummer and we Neapolitans certainly love going for a swim and relaxing by the sea, even taking some sun. To do this, however, we must first be certain of the bathing ability of our waters.
Arpac Campania, the regional agency for environmental protection, has begun to carry out the first quality checks of the waters starting from the 19 April 2022 and in total he will have to analyze 328 bathing waters to then transmit the results to the competent authorities and eventually decide whether or not to prohibit bathing in some places.
In our region currently the 97% of the coast is suitable for swimming and, as we shall see shortly, the88% of the sea is of excellent quality, but let's see in detail what the results tell us.
Arpac analyzes in Campania
In Campania, the analysis of water quality is not insignificant because the coasts are long and there is a lot of sea to control.
A Napoli and province are there 148 bathing waters, in Salerno 139, while in Caserta there are 41. The analyzes and monitoring of Arpac, as mentioned, started on April 19, will be monthly and periodic sampling will be carried out throughout the coast, with additional study points where high pollution risks are expected.
To obtain a precise and prudent work, other additional withdrawals will also be made to detect the presence of mucilage, foam, jellyfish, usual waste, microalgae that could give atypical colors (as in the case of Lake of Averno whose waters reach the sea) or industrial wastewater spills. The analyzes also aim to look for the presence of bacteria such as Escherichia coli ed Intestinal enterococci.
Until 30 September 2022 they will be done 2500 withdrawals and 5000 analyzes on a total of 480 kilometers of bathing coast.
The quality of the sea in Campania
Currently, for the opening of the bathing season, 97% of the regional coast used for bathing is suitable for bathing with these subdivisions:
- 88% are of excellent quality;
- 5% are of good quality;
- 4% is of sufficient quality;
- 3% is not suitable for bathing
As for the remaining 60km of coastline, they are not used for bathing because there are ports, protected marine areas, landings, military areas, canals and river mouths that cannot be restored.
These data are statistically extrapolated on the basis of the analytical results of the controls of the previous bathing seasons and compared to last year there is a slight decline in quality. In fact, the previous year the excellent waters were 90% and most likely the difference is due to heavy rains and this winter's thunderstorms that have made the rainwater network critical.
The differences between bathing sites compared to last year
Compared to last year, as we read on the website of the National System for Environmental Protection, some stretches of sea have been readmitted to bathing:
- in the province of Naples the “Ex Cartiera” section in Castellammare di Stabia;
- in the province of Salerno the section "La Picciola" in Pontecagnano Faiano and "Marina di Vietri - first section" in Vietri sul Mare;
- the "Marina di Cetara" stretches of sea in Cetara, the single stretch of the municipality of Minori and the "Lungomare" stretch in Sapri are of "new classification" and therefore suitable for bathing because they have been restored.
Also, I was barred from bathing because with "poor" quality 13 stretches of coast in the municipalities of Sessa Aurunca, Pozzuoli, Naples, Portici, Torre Annunziata, Castellammare, Ravello, Salerno, Pontecagnano Faiano and Battipaglia that we can see in the table below:
