Irish Regions Office Website

September 16, 2008

Name and shame website for polluted beaches

A newly-launched internet site developed by the European Environment Agency (EEA) is allowing holidaymakers to check and report on the standard of cleanliness or pollution of Europe’s beaches. The user-friendly 'Water Watch - Eye on the Earth' website combines environmental data with mapping technologies to provide up-to-date information on the official bathing water quality rating of thousands of coastal and inland bathing spots throughout Europe, through a 'traffic-light' system indicating polluted (red) and clean (green) waters as well as areas which are not sufficiently monitored (amber). It is intended to complement the EEA’s WISE (Water Information System for Europe) online monitoring system that provides detailed technical information on the quality of water.

‘Water Watch’ also allows users to leave their water quality comments on their own experiences thanks to an interactive Web 2.0 application and is the first step in a five-year project that will additionally provide easy-to-access information to the general public about the quality of soil, air and ozone. The EEA hopes the new tools will prompt a change in citizens’ personal behaviour and trigger responsive actions from public administrations.

Further details: www.eyeonearth.eu and http://water.europa.eu/

Posted by iroronan at September 16, 2008 05:09 PM