Author(s)

Y. VILLACAMPA, I. LÓPEZ, L. ARAGONÉS, C. GARCÍA, M. LÓPEZ & A. PALAZÓN

Abstract

Numerous studies and theories have emerged for evaluating the quality of beaches using different parameters. In recent years in the European region, one of the most important aspects when evaluating a beach is the quality of water and sand. The quality of water is represented by the amount of Intestinal Enterococcus and Escherichia coli. This parameter is essential and others to obtain the Blue Flag, indicating that the user of the beach can swim safely. The European Directive 2006/7/EC establishes the limits of E. coli and Enterococcus that may exist in bathing water. However, it should be noted that each ecosystem is unique, and therefore the characteristics a beach are not the same per example if you are in an inland sea, or an ocean, or equal if they are close to an urban or a natural area. In this paper, 1,392 beaches in Spain have been analysed, and it has been observed that in the Mediterranean, the beaches have a lower concentration of bacteria than other areas. In addition, it appears that the sandy beaches and urban beaches have a higher content of bacteria that natural and gravel beaches.

Keywords

E. coli, enterococcus, natural, sand and gravel beaches, urban and semi-urban beaches, water quality