The Maltese islands rank third cleanest in the EU for recreational bathing waters, local media quoted a report by the European Union Environment Agency (EEA) as saying Wednesday.
The annual report, published earlier this month as the tourist season begins, says five countries were rated excellent quality with guide values above 90 percent: Cyprus 100 percent, Luxembourg 100 percent, Malta 99 percent, Croatia 95 percent, and Greece 93 percent.
The European Bathing Water Quality in 2013 study rates both coastal beaches and inland bathing sites based on national sampling across the 28-member bloc.
EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik said: "It's good that the quality of European bathing waters continues to be of a high standard. But we cannot afford to be complacent with such a precious resource as water. We must continue to ensure that our bathing and drinking water as well as our aquatic ecosystems are fully protected."
Overall the survey's key findings showed that the quality of 95 percent of all bathing waters in the EU met the minimum water quality standards set by the EU Bathing Water Directive. Out of the over 20,000 EU bathing water sites monitored, 70 percent are coastal and 30 percent are inland waters.
In 2013, 97 percent of all coastal waters in the EU achieved the minimum quality standards established, with 85 percent excellent.
Inland rivers and lakes across the EU rated excellent quality numbered 76 percent, while the share rated as poor quality increased slightly to 2.5 percent, based on the EU member state monitoring of over 6000 inland bathing waters--mostly lakes.
The highest rates of poor or non-compliant bathing waters were found in Estonia (6 percent), the Netherlands (5 percent), Belgium (3.5 percent), France (3.5 percent), Spain (3 percent) and Ireland (3 percent). In Albania, which reported for the first time in 2013, 8 percent of the bathing waters were classified as non-compliant.
Italy, France, Germany and Spain together account for more than 70 percent of all EU bathing water sites, while Italy has a third of all EU coastline, the report added.
Having no inland rivers or lakes, all of Malta's 87 different bathing sites covered in the annual survey are coastal. Malta depends mainly on desalinated sea water for much of its drinking water.
A sun and sea destination especially popular with tourists from the Britain and neighboring Italy, the Maltese Islands are a small archipelago in the heart of the Mediterranean 80 km south of Sicily. Malta joined the European Union as a member state in 2004.
The samples collected for the survey by local and national governments and sent to the EU Commission are analyzed for the amount of two bacteria, Escherichia (E.) coli and intestinal enterococci, which may indicate the presence of pollution, usually originating in sewage or livestock waste.
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