Trends of recreational water quality in Albania’s coastal during 2016–2020

Abstract

Water quality impairment is a substantial environmental hazard which impacts a wide variety of stakeholders and interests, particularly those who participate in outdoor water-based recreational activities. Recreational bathing water qualities are highly vulnerable to microbial pollution from municipal sewage, industrial effluents, agriculture run-off and river discharges. Fecal contamination impairs water quality and potentiates human health risks. The aim of this study was to see the 5-year trend of microbiological quality of recreational bathing waters in Albania. Every year we collected 1,071 samples taken 30 centimeters below the water’s surface at least one meter deep. Assessment of bacterial load of the coastal waters was done nine times for every point, for the Escherichia coli and Intestinal enterococci, according to the methods ISO 7899-1 and ISO 9308-3. Bathing water assessment is to be classified according the categories indicated in the Directive 2006/7/EC and recommendations of WHO/UNEP-2010. Microbial Water Quality Assessment Category (cfu/100 ml water) done in 119 monitoring points were: During 2016, Excellent 53%, Sufficient 23%, Good 9% and Poor 15%. In 2017, Excellent 68%, Sufficient 15%, Good 6% and Poor 10%. During 2018, Excellent 82.4%, Sufficient 13%, Good 0.9% and Poor 3.7%. During 2019, Excellent 89%, Sufficient 2.5%, Good 6% and Poor 2.5%. During 2020 Excellent 89.9%, Sufficient 5%, Good 0.9%, and Poor 4.2%. Based on the above assessment, it is noticed a significant increase of microbial quality of recreational bathing waters in Albania due to investments in the sewerage system and better waste water treatment.

Keywords:

• Bathing water
• contamination
• microbial quality
• recreational
• Albania

Acknowledgments

First, the acknowledgments go to the head of IPH and National Environmental Agency, for the support and assistance in finalizing this article. I want to acknowledgments co-authors for their support, assistances and contribution during the preparation of this article.

Disclosure statement

No conflict of interest to declare. All the data presented in this article have been collected by me.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [O P and E A], upon reasonable request.