• The Occitanie Regional Health Agency has delivered its annual report on the quality of bathing water in the region, based on the results of its checks.

  • In the Mediterranean, all the sites are classified as "excellent" or "good".

  • In fresh water, it is more disparate: a small part of the swimming spots are classified only "sufficient", even "insufficient".

    Some are also closed.

With the heat raging (even more than elsewhere) in Occitania, we all need to take a dip in the Mediterranean, in lakes and rivers. But is the region's bathing water of good quality? This Thursday, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) delivered the results of health checks, which it conducts all year round on the 437 corners where you can cool off in Occitanie. The organization strives in particular to measure the risk of infection, linked to the presence of germs in the water. And, overall, this year again, the quality is there.

On the sea side, almost all of the bathing sites in Occitanie, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, Aude, Gard and Hérault, benefit from water qualified as "excellent".

This is the case, near Montpellier, the beaches of Grande-Motte, Carnon, Palavas-les-Flots, Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone and Frontignan.

Only one corner, the Faubourg beach, in Collioure, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, is only rated “good”.

It is "excellent" at the Ramée, Bonnets or Saint-Ferréol lakes.

For freshwater bathing sites, in lakes and rivers, the quality is, on the other hand, much more disparate in Occitania. In Ariège, Aude, Haute-Garonne, Gers, Hautes-Pyrénées, Tarn and Tarn-et-Garonne, all the open places have been classified "excellent" or "good". The water is described as "excellent" near Toulouse, from the lake of La Ramée, to the lake of Bonnets in Muret, to the lake of Saint-Ferréol, to the Source in Carbonne, to Saint-Jory, to Villemur-sur- Tarn and Montrejeau. It is only "good" at Lake Thésauque. Swimming is closed, however, in Caraman.

In the Hérault, most of the open areas of fresh water are classified as "excellent" or "good".

Only two sites have a “sufficient” label: the Boulouc lake and the Brunan mill.

But, notice to swimmers, this classification does not necessarily have to be prohibitive.

"If swimming is not prohibited, you can swim", explains Christine Ricoux, the Health and Environment Manager at ARS in Hérault.

In the department, three sites are, on the other hand, completely closed: the waterfalls of Vis and Les Forces, after rock falls in the parking lot in 2018, and the “village bathing” in Bélarga, for strong eddies and currents. .

"We take into account the statistics of the last four years"

Finally, there are ten sites whose quality is described as "insufficient" in Occitanie: the Valdesaures and La Gravière campsite in Aveyron, the Leisure area, the Aulas lake and the Gour Mourier in the Gard, Saint-Cirq-Lapopie and Cahors-Plage in the Lot, the two sites of the Pont de Mouvert and the Pont de Saint-Hilaire in Lozère.

But, recalls Christine Ricoux, to classify the sites, "we take into account the statistics of the last four years".

A bad result is enough for the ranking to tumble.

To follow the evolution of health checks in real time, there are two solutions: on the signs on the bathing sites, and on bainades.sante.gouv.fr.

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