New EU Water Quality rules for beaches

These standards will be adopted by all member nations by the year 2015, but not without criticism from environmental groups, such as Surfers Against Sewage. They claim that although the standards may seem more strict, the "sufficient" category mimics the old ones. Consequently, these beaches may not see any investment in improving the water quality.

On the upside, the new standards indicate that the water quality test results must be posted online as well as possible sources of pollution to beaches and recent incidents of contaminiation.

Teachers, this is a good way to link science to policy in the classroom, especially if you're working on environmental justice issues.