Lombardy Lake Bathing Sites: Permits, Pollution, and Regional Progress
Go ahead with the baths; the season of health checks on our lakes begins. The Lombardy Region has developed an initial mapping of illegal beaches, which are currently not permitted for bathing. However, during the upcoming tourist season, these beaches may regain their quality certification if the sampling tests conducted by the Hygiene Office of the ASL and the Multisectoral Brescia Station prove to be positive.
Garda, it must be said immediately, comes out with top marks. Of the 52 locations examined along the Brescia Riviera last year (from May 1 to September 15), only ten did not receive permission for bathing, with fluctuating trends throughout the year.
Therefore, 42 sites are approved. This is an extremely encouraging, if not extraordinary, figure. The table prepared by the Directorate General of Health is currently unofficial. Confirmation was given to Bresciaoggi by a senior official from the same regional department.
Thus, the data may be subject to changes. However, the overall picture is now clear. The analysis, compiled into tables referencing each body of water in Lombardy, is based on the sampling results from 2000. And, as mentioned, Lake Garda — the largest and most visited by tourists with 20 million entries per year — boasts the highest number of blue flags hoisted along its shores.
Among the locations affected by bans and listed in the regional table are Salò, Desenzano, and Sirmione. In the Scaliger Peninsula, only two beaches recorded issues last year: S. Maria di Lugana and Brema. Coincidentally, these are areas near busy ports and beaches.
The same applies to Desenzano, where Spiaggia d’Oro and Desenzanino are the beaches most at risk, and not only from last year. Their problems date back about ten years. However, this year the situation should improve thanks to the work connected with the Garda Uno sewage system.
Finally, Salò. The gulf town has been heavily impacted for about ten years by pollution behind the hospital and cemetery areas. The causes are varied, making it difficult to identify a single culprit. Nonetheless, even in Salò, the blue flag should be awarded within a few months, at most another season, thanks to sewage system upgrades.
Conversely, bathing is permitted along the rest of the coastline, with particularly excellent conditions in northern Garda, which has always been a small earthly paradise, partly due to the lake’s depth.
In Sirmione, remember, last year the prestigious European blue flag was awarded — a title the town has no intention of relinquishing. The beaches and treatment plants have been upgraded accordingly: and the bans imposed? They were only a temporary episode.
