There are 71 areas in the province of Taranto whose bathing waters have passed the quality controls conducted, through microbiological analyses, over the course of four years (2020-2023) by the National System for Environmental Protection (SNPA), the network which coordinates the various regional environmental agencies present on the national territory including Arpa Puglia.
The data were presented during a press conference held in the headquarters of the general management of Arpa Puglia and attended by the president of the Region, Michele Emiliano, the regional councilor for the Environment, Serena Triggiani, the general director of Arpa Puglia , Vito Bruno, and the scientific one, Vincenzo Capanaro, and the director of the Regional Sea Center of Arpa Puglia, Nicola Ungaro.
And from the survey on bathing it emerged that for the fourth consecutive year Puglia has the cleanest sea in Italy, a result, commented President Emiliano, “which cannot be achieved by snapping the fingers but with very hard team work”.
As regards the province of Taranto, the waters declared suitable for bathing embrace, in the western area, the areas ranging from Ginosa Marina to Lido Azzurro passing through Castellaneta, Castellaneta Marina, Riva dei Tessali, the mouths of the Lato and Lenne rivers. On the eastern side, the promoted areas range from Manduria to Taranto (Tramontone, San Vito-Faro, Viale del Tramonto as well as numerous private areas) passing through Maruggio, the mouth of the Chidro river, Lizzano, Pulsano and Leporano. The sea of Taranto, therefore, has been widely promoted with regards to its bathing qualities. All the sampling points carried out by Arpa Puglia were of excellent quality except in one case where the quality of the water was declared good.
During the seasonal monitoring period, various meteorological-marine parameters are measured in the field at each “station point”, while the samples are analyzed in the laboratory to determine the bacterial load, calculated, as by the other Italian agencies, with respect to threshold values of two microbiological parameters: “Intestinal enterococci” and “Escherichia coli”; in relation to the samples collected, it is estimated that every year the Apulian Agency carries out approximately 8,500 laboratory analytical determinations.
“The regional sustainable development strategy that we have equipped ourselves with – explained councilor Triggiani – is a fundamental planning document that we are implementing on various fronts. But we are also launching specific actions to raise public awareness aimed at caring for our beaches and raising awareness, especially among the younger generations, of the landscape, tourism, economic and social heritage that Puglia holds”.
“This year too, Puglia is first for the quality of its bathing water. A data certified by the National Environmental Protection System, a network system that monitors and controls all Italian coasts, consolidated from a scientific point of view. It is an excellence for our country, a guarantee that does not only concern the environmental quality of the waters but their healthiness, therefore the health of the seas in which many citizens and many tourists who flock to Puglia bathe, therefore we are happy to have won the fourth consecutive championship”, commented the general director of Arpa Puglia, Vito Bruno.
All the data are available on the Arpa Puglia institutional website, at the web address https://www.arpa.puglia.it/pagina2885_balneazione.html, where it is possible, using an interactive map, to view the geographical location of the bathing waters as well as of the individual monitoring points.
