Checks in your municipality

The classification (Excellent, Good, Sufficient, Poor) is the official Ministry of Health verdict, computed over four seasons of samples: it is the most meaningful figure, because it looks at years rather than a single sample.

A single exceedance is not a verdict. When a sample exceeds the limits, ARPACAL samples again: that resample tells whether it was a transient episode or a persistent problem. This is why we always show it next to the exceedance, never on its own.

No checks does not mean clean water, it means nobody sampled. And where samples are few we publish no percentages.

Non-bathing points (canals, river mouths, discharges) are shown separately, and the “limits not applicable” wording on the report is not a loophole: Italian law sets no Escherichia coli limit for the water of a canal as such. Microbiological limits exist for the discharges feeding into it, set case by case by the authority in the permit (with a recommended value of 5,000 CFU/100 ml under Table 3, Annex 5 of Legislative Decree 152/2006), and for bathing waters at sea (500 CFU or MPN/100 ml on a single sample, Ministerial Decree of 30 March 2010). The figure remains a meaningful pressure indicator: Legislative Decree 116/2008 requires the Region to map exactly these sources in the bathing water profile.

A clarification that contradicts a widespread belief: no rule bans bathing at river mouths as such. The ban often found there is settled administrative practice, adopted through regional decrees and mayoral ordinances, not a statutory rule. In Calabria there are sampling points named “foce” (river mouth) classified as Excellent.

Microalgae are not a verdict on the beach. Under ARPACAL extraordinary analyses at the bottom of the page you will find microscope counts of phytoplankton. There is no legal limit on microalgae numbers, because a bloom is not in itself a health risk: the only regulatory thresholds concern two potentially toxic organisms, Ostreopsis cf. ovata and cyanobacteria, which are a different matter. Water can turn green and still be perfectly compliant from a health standpoint: this happened in Calabria, with microbiological analyses within limits on the same stretch on the same day.

Nutrients explain why, they do not grade. Nitrogen and phosphorus are the fertiliser of microalgae: they explain why a bloom happens at a given spot, which is why we publish them next to the counts. But Italian law sets no threshold for these parameters in marine waters, so you will find no compliance verdict: we would be making it up. Beware a very common confusion: the 50 mg/L nitrate figure applies to drinking water and phosphorus limits apply to treatment plant discharges, not to the sea. The notation “< 0.5” means below the instrument detection limit: it is a datum, not a missing one.