Bavaria: Water quality: Regular controls of bathing areas

Summer holidays are almost everywhere in Germany and the heat is driving people to the bathing lakes.

Bavaria: Water quality: Regular controls of bathing areas

Summer holidays are almost everywhere in Germany and the heat is driving people to the bathing lakes. Fortunately, the water quality is good almost everywhere. But how is this actually checked?

Pleinfeld (dpa / lby) - Two swimmers, accompanied by swans, swim their laps in Brombachsee on a hot morning. Children splash with their parents in shallow water. Julia Wittmann unpacks her equipment at the pier. "When swimming, everyone swallows water," she says.

To ensure that there are no health consequences, experts like Wittmann check the water quality at almost 2,300 designated bathing areas on lakes, rivers and the coast all over Germany in accordance with the EU Bathing Water Directive.

"First I measure the visual depth," says Wittmann, who works as a hygiene inspector at the health department of the district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen in Middle Franconia. To do this, she lowers a black and white measuring disc into the water on a rope and sees how long she can still see the white color. She then reads the depth from markings on the rope: two meters. "Ideal," says the 34-year-old. "The more you can look into water, the better it is for bathing." Because if someone drowns, they can be discovered and rescued more quickly.

But whether a bathing water is good or bad cannot be determined on its own. "Cloudy water does not necessarily have to be a sign of poor bathing water quality. On the other hand, clear water can also be bacteriologically contaminated," says the Federal Ministry for the Environment. That is why laboratories examine the water for possible pathogens.

To do this, Wittmann first measures the water temperature: a pleasant 25 degrees. Then she comes to the actual water sample. To do this, she grabs a container with long tongs, dips it upside down into the lake and turns it around 30 centimeters deep so that it fills with water. Then she writes the place, date, time and water temperature on the test and puts them in a cool box with the others.

Later they go to the State Office for Health for examination. The experts are focusing on the faecal bacteria, intestinal enterococci and Escherichia coli. The bacteria get into the water from sewage, agriculture or waterfowl, among other things. In humans, these can cause diarrhea or vomiting, for example. The water quality therefore depends on the amount of bacteria detected.

In Germany, bathers can jump into the water at almost all official bathing spots without hesitation. According to the current bathing water report by the European Environment Agency, more than 90 percent of the bodies of water analyzed last year in Germany have excellent water quality. 14 bathing spots were found to be unsatisfactory, including those on the Elbe near Brokdorf in Schleswig-Holstein, the North Sea beach at Wremen in Lower Saxony and the Mainparksee in Lower Franconia.

Wittmann travels a lot during the bathing season. During this time, the health authorities in Germany must check the bathing areas every four weeks in accordance with EU requirements. Wittmann and her team are responsible for eleven bathing spots on four lakes. If there are any abnormalities, they drive in, sometimes even out twice a week. That morning Wittmann was already at the Kleiner Brombachsee. Blue-green algae spoil bathing pleasure there. The nearby Altmühlsee is also affected.

Blue-green algae are actually cyanobacteria that multiply en masse at high water temperatures in summer and float in the water as blue-green streaks or carpets. These form toxins that can trigger allergic reactions, shortness of breath or nausea in humans, among other things. This summer, the authorities had to temporarily block bathing areas in some places in Germany.

But as quickly as cyanobacteria blooms come, they usually go again. "Blue-green algae are always a snapshot," says Wittmann. "A lot depends on the climate, the heat, the wind and the current." Your water samples then give some of the all-clear later: the bathing bans or bathing warnings can be lifted again in some places.