Bathing waters in the Lady’s Mile area, in Limassol, are of excellent quality and do not present any environmental degradation, the Director of the Department of Environment, Theodoulos Mesimeris, told CNA on Wednesday.
Asked by CNA to comment on a new announcement by the British Bases in Akrotiri, in which they call on the public to avoid swimming in the area until the situation as regards the quality of the bathing waters was clarified, Mesimeris pointed out that there is no reason for the public to avoid swimming in the specific area, since, as he said, the competent authority, which is the Department of Environment, has carried out the necessary procedure, with specific methodology and that the conclusion was that the waters of the specific area “are of excellent quality” and meet the highest standards of the European Bathing Waters Directive. He added that the competent authority for implementing the provisions of this directive was the Department of Environment of the Ministry of Agriculture.
“Based on the regular monitoring of bathing waters and the extraordinary monitoring measures, which the Republic has carried out, following the relevant protocol established for this purpose, it appears that the bathing waters in the Lady’s Mile area are considered to be of excellent quality and do not present any environmental degradation,” Mesimeris stressed.
Asked why then, since the competent authority for implementing the provisions of this directive is the Department of Environment, the British Bases proceeded to test the water quality, Mesimeris said that the Bases “are not responsible for monitoring the quality of bathing water, as determined by the relevant institutional framework”.
Earlier on Wednesday, the British Bases issued a new announcement, informing that results from further testing conducted on Tuesday, concerning water quality at Lady’s Mile beach area, should be received by the end of the week and further in-depth test results next week.
Asked if there was any reason why the results from the British Bases’ sampling were different from those of the Department of the Environment, Mesimeris reiterated that “the responsibility for monitoring bathing water has been assigned to the Department of the Environment,” adding that responsibility for informing and taking measures for anything that fails the standards, lies with the Department of the Environment.
He also said that it was possible the sampling was not done “in the way it should have been”.
“Those responsible for monitoring the waters did what they had to do with a specific methodology, with specific confirmed, verified means, and the conclusion is that the waters of this particular area are of excellent quality”, he said.
