The politics of water management: bathing waters in Italy
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The politics of water management: bathing waters in Italy
Anna Trono
University of the Salento, Italy
1. Introduction
As stated in European Union Directive 2006/7/EC, concerning the management of water
quality, water is a scarce natural resource and should be protected, managed and treated as such
(EU, 2006). Above all, it is important that there is careful and frequent monitoring of waters. In
Italy this seems to have been a successful approach, particularly for coastal bathing waters.
2. Italian coastal waters
Although Italy is rich in water resources, overexploitation and pollution from both point and dif-
fuse sources may negatively affect their quality, thus reducing their suitability for the most im-
portant uses. According to statistics provided by the Italian Ministry of the Environment, Italy
has the second highest ratio in Europe of water abstracted to water resources available
(Benvenuti and Gennari, 2008). Estimates give a ratio of 32 per cent, with only Belgium higher
at 54 per cent. Despite the high use ratio, there are often considerable water shortages, due
mainly to unequal distribution of rainfall but also due to irrational use of water and poor manage-
ment practices.
Italy’s water resources are subject to strong pressure from an extensive manufacturing and
industrial system, a highly developed farming sector and anthropogenic transformation of the
environment. The latter is due to the high density of the resident population, but also to the large
numbers of tourists who visit the country all year round and especially in the summer. As a con-
sequence, the Mediterranean region is now under greater pressure from tourism than any other
region of the world (Trono, 2006). Despite this, annual data for the monitoring of coastal bathing
waters released by the Ministry of Health show that the quality of Italian coastal waters is excel-
lent (Ministero del Lavoro, della Salute e delle Politiche Sociali, 2008). In 2007, Italy had the
highest quality marine bathing waters in Europe. There are 4,920 bathing sites in Italy, out of a
European total of 14,552 (which represents 34 per cent of all bathing sites in Europe), followed
by Greece with about 2,000 sites, Spain with 1,900 and France with 1,800 sites.
NEAR Curriculum in Natural Environmental Science, 2010, Terre et Environnement, Vol. 88, 43–49,
ISBN 2–940153–87–644 NEAR curriculum in natural environmental science
Table 1 Results of monitoring the Italian coastline for suitability for bathing, 2006 and 2007
2006 2007
km % km %
Total length of coastline 7,375.3 100.0 7,375.3 100.0
Coastline that cannot be monitored 1,072.2 14.5 1071.4 14.5
Insufficiently sampled coastline 10.0 0.1 3.7 0.0
Coastline to which access is permanently prohibited for
reasons other than pollution 882.8 12.0 890.1 12.1
Coastline to which access is permanently prohibited for
reasons of pollution 247.3 3.4 244.9 3.3
Coastline which is temporarily not suitable for bathing
for reasons of pollution 221.6 3.0 194.9 2.7
Coastline suitable for bathing 4,941.4 67.0 4,970.2 67.4
Source: Ministero del Lavoro, della Salute e delle Politiche Sociali, 2008
Italy monitors its entire coast and not just the bathing sites, as happens in most of the other
countries, with a dense monitoring network (about 5,000 sampling points no more than 2 km
apart) and the longest sampling period (six months a year). The network of sampling stations,
which covers almost the whole of the Italian coastline, is able to supply data regularly on the
quality of the coastal waters, guaranteeing truly rigorous and effective monitoring. The only
sites excluded from the analyses are those in areas to which access is restricted for various rea-
sons, such as military zones. The monitoring network is a source of pride for Italy, because it is
currently the only country in the Mediterranean with a continuously updated assessment of its
bathing waters. One of the consequences of monitoring the whole coast and not just bathing
sites, is that Italy has declared 300 sites as not suitable for bathing (mainly river mouths). This
represents a level of monitoring and public health protection that is not provided by other coun-
tries (Ministero del Lavoro, della Salute e delle Politiche Sociali, 2008).
The results of the survey of bathing waters (Ministero del Lavoro, della Salute e delle
Politiche Sociali, 2008) showed that of the 5,170 km of coastline subject to monitoring, 4,970
km, or 96.2 per cent, were suitable for bathing. Of the total 7,375 km of Italian coastline, 2,205
km were not suitable for bathing because they were not accessible for monitoring or because
they were affected by ports and river mouths. A further 195 km of coastline were not suitable for
bathing because they were polluted (Table 1). This was an important result when compared with
the situation in the 1980s, when more than one third of the Italian coastline was not suitable for
bathing because it was polluted. Thus, taking into consideration the Italian regions as a whole,
the country’s bathing waters were of generally good quality.
Figure 1 shows that in half of the coastal provinces monitored, 100 per cent of the coast is
suitable for bathing and in 40 provinces the proportion of the coastline suitable for bathing is
above the national average of 96.2 per cent. Only in the four provinces of Caserta, Napoli, Roma
and Gorizia is the proportion of the coastline suitable for bathing lower than 90 per cent. Figure 2
shows the Italian regions and provinces with the highest proportion of polluted of coastal waters.Bathing waters in Italy 45 Figure 1 Analysis of the results of monitoring marine bathing waters in Italy by province, 2007 (Source: Ministero del Lavoro, della Salute e delle Politiche Sociali, 2008)
46 NEAR curriculum in natural environmental science Figure 2 Proportions of coastal water (provincial and regional) in Italy classified as polluted, 2007 (Source: Ministero del Lavoro, della Salute e delle Politiche Sociali, 2008)
Bathing waters in Italy 47
10,0 100,0
9,0 98,0
forbidden for pollution reasons, %
8,0 96,0
suitable for bathing, %
7,0 forbidden for pollutin 94,0
reas ons,%
6,0 92,0
s uitable for bathing, %
5,0 90,0
4,0 88,0
3,0 86,0
2,0 84,0
1,0 82,0
0,0 80,0
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Figure 3 Changes in the proportions of sites suitable for bathing along the Italian coast,
1993–2007 (Source: Ministero del Lavoro, della Salute e delle Politiche Sociali, 2008)
PHYSICAL AND
CHEMICAL TOTAL COLIFORMS;
PARAMETERS; 15,77%
15,77%
SALMONELLA; 1,46%
FAECAL COLIFORMS;
STREPTOCOCCI;
39,42%
27,59%
Figure 4 Relative proportions of different pollutants in Italian bathing waters, 2007 (Source:
Ministero del Lavoro, della Salute e delle Politiche Sociali, 2008)
In the last 15 years coastal pollution has declined from 7.4 per cent in 1993 to 3.7 per cent
in 2007 and the proportion of the coastline suitable for bathing has increased from 92.6 per cent
in 1993 to 96.3 per cent in 2007 (Figure 3). The polluted sites are mainly affected by biological
pollutants. Figure 4 shows that coliforms (total and faecal), streptococci and salmonellae
account for 84 per cent of orders prohibiting bathing; the remainder were due to chemical or
physical pollution.48 NEAR curriculum in natural environmental science
3. Water legislation in Italy
Italian bathing sites are the most intensely monitored in Europe because more than 20 years ago
Italy adopted the strictest criteria in the European Directive regulating this sector. Today, 91.7
per cent of its bathing sites conform to the guideline values for microbiological parameters,
compared to a European average of 86 per cent, and surpassed only by Greece on 95 per cent. In
Italy, the quality of bathing waters is regulated by Presidential Decree 470 of June 8th 1982
which applies EU Directive 76/160/EC of December 8th 1975. The decree stipulates that in the
sampling period from 1st April to 30th September, analytical monitoring of coastal waters identi-
fied by the Regional authorities must be performed in order to verify their suitability (or other-
wise) for bathing, both during the bathing season (from 1st May to 30th September) and for the
period immediately preceding it. This monitoring is carried out by laboratories run by the Local
Health Authorities (Aziende Sanitarie Locali) or Regional Environmental Protection Agencies
(Agenzie Regionali per la Protezione dell’Ambiente) where these are present.
EU Directive 7/2006/EC concerning the management of bathing water quality, which was
integrated into Italian law on 30/5/2008 (D.L. del Consiglio dei Ministri), changed the current
monitoring network for bathing waters by specifying homogeneous areas and stretches of coast-
line that have two or more consecutive points with similar values in terms of environmental
quality and risk factors. This led to a reduction in the number of stations and the cost of moni-
toring (Gruppo 183 -IEFE Bocconi-Legambiente, 2003). This Directive involves a highly inno-
vative approach because it favours integrated management of water quality, enabling measures
to prevent the exposure of bathers to polluted waters not only by monitoring, but also through
management policies that recognise and reduce the possible causes of pollution. For classifying
the quality of bathing waters, the Directive specifies only two indicators of faecal contamination
with proven health implications, streptococci and Escherichia coli (the previous Directive listed
19 such parameters). Bathing waters are now classified on the basis of four quality classes (Ex-
cellent, Good, Sufficient and Poor), depending on the density of these indicators (95th percentile
derived from data from the last three/four years).
4. Conclusions
In general terms, the legal framework for bathing water quality is still complex and fragmentary,
as a result of continuous additions and modifications over the last 30 years. Clearly, Italy is now
closer to achieving the objectives of EU Directive 2000/60/EC (the Water Framework Direc-
tive) which is designed to encourage a more holistic and regionally integrated approach to wa-
ter-related issues, a greater degree of co-operation and negotiation with other decision-making
bodies that are not directly affected by water management, and above all more interaction be-
tween government and local communities (Kallis and Butler, 2001; Borja, 2005; Hanley et al.,
2006; Correljé et al., 2007). However, the new legislation might have even greater benefits for
the formulation of regional strategies if it incorporates the well-established DPSIR frameworkBathing waters in Italy 49
(Drivers, Pressures, States, Impacts, Responses), which provides an overview of the state of the
environment and the seriousness of the socio-economic pressures that act on it (Pirrone et al.,
2005). The DPSIR framework has been cited as a potential analytical tool in the development of
water management strategies with respect to European water policy (Ledoux et al., 2005). It en-
ables the analyses of complex systems in order to identify the main factors that give rise to a
problem and then to find possible solutions (Trombino et al., 2005). The use of the DPSIR model
for problems related to bathing waters could improve the management of coastal areas.
5. References
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Banca d’Italia e dell’Eurosistema. www.bancaditalia.it.
Borja, A. 2005 The European water framework directive: A challenge for nearshore, coastal and
continental shelf research. Continental Shelf Research, 25, 1768–1783.
Correljé, A., Francois, D. and Verbeke, T. 2007 Integrating water management and principles of
policy: towards an EU framework? Journal of Cleaner Production, 15, 1499–1506.
Directive 2006/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 February 2006 Official
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Gruppo 183 -IEFE Bocconi-Legambiente 2003 Per l’attuazione della Direttiva Europea Quadro
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Hanley, N., Robert E., Wright, R.E. and Alvarez-Farizo, B. 2006 Estimating the economic value
of improvements in river ecology using choice experiments: an application to the water
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Kallis, G. and Butler, D. 2001 The EU water framework directive: measures and implications
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Trombino, G., Cinnirella, S., Algieri, A. and Pirrone, N. 2005 Scenario analysis for the evaluation
of River Basin Management Plan for the Po Catchment under the Water Framework Directive.
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Trono, A. (Ed) 2006 Lo sviluppo dell’identità mediterranea attraverso l’economia del mare,
Mario Congedo Editore, Lecce.You can also read
