Arpa Campania has completed i institutional controls on the quality of bathing water scheduled for May. Since the start of monitoring, A total of 788 seawater samples have been collected and analyzed so far in 2024. This is the sum of the samplings of the regional calendar and of the additional ones carried out for study reasons and/or in response to anomalies (foams, mucilage, anomalous colours) sighted during missions at sea or reported by other bodies.
All sampling was carried out by technicians from the Arpac departments of Naples, Caserta and Salerno on board the nautical vehicles owned by the Agency, conducted and managed by specialized personnel from the Uo Mare, coordinated by Dr. Giuseppe Onorati. The samples are analyzed in the Arpa Campania laboratories.
So far, in 2024, the samples found not to comply with the legal limit valuesfor the parameters determining bathing suitability, they represent just under 3% of the overall total with a decidedly improving trend in the monthly checks in May compared to the pre-seasonal data in April, mostly influenced by rainfall events.
Enlarge table
In May, results exceeding the regulatory limits were found only in the province of Naples as reported in the table.
An exceedance for only the Escherichia coli parameter was recorded in the Municipality of Massa Lubrense in the bathing water called “Punta San Lorenzo” (taken on May 20th) in a stretch of sea that has never shown critical issues in the last decade of monitoring. Most likely it was an occasional event since the microbiological values immediately returned with the additional samples taken on May 29th and it was possible to lift the temporary bathing ban.
Another non-compliance, which triggered a bathing ban, concerned the “South Marina di Stabia” stretch in the municipality of Castellammare di Stabiacurrently (June 7) still banned.
Other breaches were found in water already banned for bathing for the entire bathing season because it was declared to be of poor quality in the latest regional classification (section north of the Cuma purifier in Pozzuoli), also in three points sampled for study reasons in the Municipality of Naples and finally for an emergency a Giugliano in Campania (section “Pineta di Licola Nord”) due to the presence of dense streaks of brown foam.
In May it was possible to lift the bathing ban in Casamicciola Terme (island of Ischia) in the “Punta della Scrofa” water which had given unfavorable results in the pre-season sample of 16 April due to a fault in the underwater sewer pipe, which was then repaired by the water service manager. The effectiveness of the repair intervention matched the results of the sampling on May 21st, therefore it was possible to proceed with restoring the water in question to being suitable for bathing.
At a management level, it is appropriate to remember that, regardless of Arpac’s seasonal checks, in the event of critical issues that may put the health of bathers at risk, given the technical times between the sampling and the analytical results of a few days which would leave the bathers exposed to a health risk, the competent authority may adopt measures to protect public health (including a temporary ban on bathing).
Regarding the publicization of monitoring data along the entire Campania coast, the representatives of the coastal Arpac departments update the agency portal dedicated to bathing and that of the Ministry of Health in real time. The analytical results are therefore usable as soon as they are determined on both institutional sites but also on the “Arpac Balneazione” app and the most salient cases on the Arpac X profile.
For detailed information for each bathing water, selected on the Arpac portal, the “profile sheet” required by the law is available to the user which contains the description of the reference area, the respective quality class and the potential pollution factors that they insist on that stretch of sea.
Furthermore, from the agency website it is possible to activate the focus dedicated to the georeferenced database of coastal discharges. The data are implemented in a Territorial Information System and published on an easy-to-consult Google Earth map which allows you to verify the presence or absence of a discharge on each stretch of sea being monitored, extremely useful information in the analysis of any causes of pollution of the regional coast.
