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Of all bathing sites in Estonia 64.8 percent have excellent water quality which is below the European Union average of 78.3 percent, it appears from the report the European Environment Agency (EEA) released on Tuesday.
Bathing water quality below EU average
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Swimming places that meet the standards but are not of top quality make up 27.8 percent in Estonia and 15.7 percent across the EU.
Of Estonian bathing sites 92.6 percent meet the minimum standards compared to the EU average of 94 percent. The report is based on data for the 2012 bathing season when 54 swimming places in this country were monitored.
Compared to the previous report, water quality of Estonian bathing sites has deteriorated: data for 2011 show that 95 percent of the sites at least met the minimum criteria.
In Latvia 45.7 percent and in Lithuania 73.7 percent of swimming places were found to have excellent water quality and respectively 97.9 percent and 92.1 percent to meet the minimum standards.
The EEA monitored 22,000 sites across the EU. Cyprus emerged as the best place to swim with all of its 112 sites rated as excellent.
"The overall message of this report is that in 2012 bathing waters in Europe remained at the high level of quality reached in prior seasons," the report said.