Bathing water quality monitoring

Bathing water is any section of surface water where the competent authority expects a large number of bathers and for which it has not issued a permanent bathing ban or does not advise against bathing on a permanent basis.

On the website of the Bathing Water Atlas of Lower Saxony you will find information on all of the approximately 270 bathing waters in Lower Saxony.

Whether the water in a bathing water is safe for health is checked by the municipal health authorities during the official bathing season from 15 May to 15 September. The water samples are mainly examined for bacteria (E. coli and intestinal enterococci). These bacteria are not even normally pathogens. However, they can be an indication of faecal contamination and that there may be special pathogens in the water (indicator principle). If the limit values specified in the Lower Saxony Bathing Water Ordinance (BadegewVO) are exceeded, a bathing ban is pronounced.

Based on the monitoring results of the last four bathing seasons, each bathing water in a quality category is classified as 'excellent', 'good', 'sufficient' or 'poor'.

Extensive water-specific information, such as the indicator principle or bathing ban, can be found on the website of the Bathing Water Atlas of Lower Saxony, including pictures, maps and descriptions of the infrastructure. These can be found in the Bathing Water Atlas of Lower Saxony.

• Bathing Water Atlas of Lower Saxony