Misleading info on Spanish water quality

I am writing to you regarding the information that your newspaper published (May 28) about the European Environment Agency (HA) report on the quality of bathing waters across Europe, with the title “Cyprus tops list of clean EU bathing waters”.

While I wholeheartedly congratulate Cyprus for the excellent results, I must also point out that the wording of the article is misleading and might give the wrong impression about Spain.

Indeed, the article states that “European Union Member States with the highest proportion of sites with a poor status were Estonia, which scored 6.0 per cent on the excellence scale, the Netherlands 5.0 per cent, France, Spain and Ireland 3.0 per cent”.

By referring to percentages on the excellence scale, it gives the impression that only 3.3 per cent of Spanish bathing waters are deemed “excellent”, whereas the report actually gives such qualification to 83.3 per cent of our bathing waters (rising to 87.3 if only coastal waters are considered); 3.3 per cent is the number for the ones with “poor” status.

Certainly, there is room for improvement but Spain has actually a higher-than-average percentage of “excellent” water quality, which is the opposite of what is suggested in your information.

Ana Salornon, Embassy of Spain, Nicosia

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.