Ancona, the bathing season begins on May 1st. Excellent water levels of over 96%.

Green light for the 2024 bathing season. The opening date is May 1st while the closing is set for September 29th. The bathing season for river waters will begin on 22 June and end on 1 September 2024. This was communicated by the Marche Region, at the same time as the identification of bathing waters (BW) and the new Homogeneous Areas (AO) for the 2024 season with their classification.

To carry out water sampling and analysis activities for the assessment of their conformity, before and during bathing season, and for their classification at the end of the season, is provided by ARPAM, the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of the Marche, which will also take care of the monitoring program for algal surveillance, the monitoring of Ostreopsis cf Ovata in bathing waters marine-coastal and monitoring of Cyanobacteria in the fresh waters of artificial reservoirs.

"The careful monitoring carried out by ARPAM – declares the regional councilor for the Environment, Stefano Aguzzi – allows you to guarantee safe bathing, to protect public health. Furthermore, the data offers satisfactory results. Today, out of 254 monitored bathing waters, 244 are classified as excellent quality. The results of the surveys therefore offer a positive picture in view of the upcoming start of the tourist season". “Moreover – continues councilor Aguzzi – this result was also obtained thanks to the important investments that the Region, the EGATO and the Integrated Water Service Managers are working to guarantee high quality water quality, especially bathing water".

The very rigorous monitoring requires in particular that in the fifteen days before the start of the season, for each bathing water, at least one preventive sample must be taken to verify the conformity of the quality of the bathing water by ARPAM and, if necessary, management measures to safeguard public health must be implemented by coastal municipalities. In the event of non-compliant samples, ARPAM will carry out sampling until the date close to the start of the bathing season to verify the possible compliance of the water, and if this does not occur, it will promptly communicate to the Municipalities their exclusion due to non-compliance of the same.

In bathing waters where they may occur overflowing with urban wastewater from the sewerage networks, if this event occurs after the preventive sampling carried out in April, ARPAM will carry out a new sampling in order to ascertain the conformity of the water required before the start of the bathing season.

Same attention for the algal surveillance program for the entire marine strip of the regional coast and for artificial reservoirs. All appropriate information relating to the phenomenon will be disclosed to the public not only through specific signs placed on site, but also through daily publication on the website www.arpa.marche.it of bulletins containing the analytical results of the sampling carried out.

Poor quality have been identified waters of the North Foce Musone area, which must be managed and treated adequately, establishing in this case a permanent ban on bathing for the entire 2024 season as a preventive management measure, as the waters have had poor classification for at least 5 consecutive years.

Furthermore, attention will be paid to those bathing waters that have had at least one closure. Bathing ban and information signs for the coastal stretches overlooking the mouths of rivers and streams and port/industrial structures. Any stretches of lake or reservoirs not used for bathing will also be reported.