The marine waters in the province of Salerno they are generally of good quality, as highlighted by the results of the bathing resolution of the Campania Region, although they have revealed problems in some areas of the Salerno coast. Currently, only six sampling sites are temporarily closed to swimming; however, these areas could be reopened during the bathing season by implementing appropriate preventive measures. Most of the seaside areas, including those around Salerno and in the rest of the province, have received a classification of "excellence" from Arpac, the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Campania.
The beaches of Capaccio Paestum (Merola Village) and Eboli (north of the Sele mouth) see a suspension of bathing following the exceeding of the legal limits due to the presence of bacteria, in particular intestinal enterococci and Escherichia coli. The mayors of the affected areas have been notified and must now issue prohibition orders. Same thing for the Piana di Velia. Although there are no formal restrictions, bathing is still not recommended.
The other areas monitored do not show significant problems. Cilento, in particular, continues to be one of the areas with the sea cleaner than Campania. South of the Sele river, only the areas of Torre di Paestum a Capaccio and Cammarelle a Sapri they have not obtained the maximum score of "Excellence", but their waters are still classified as "Good".
The publication of data on the state of bathing water responds to the need to quickly provide institutions and users with data on the quality of the sea that emerge from the monitoring activity conducted by ARPAC in each bathing season.
The surveillance program on the quality of bathing water is one of the institutional tasks of ARPAC entrusted by the Campania Region with Law no. 10/98 establishing the organisation. This program is carried out according to the provisions regarding monitoring, classification, management of the quality of water intended for bathing and information to the public provided for by Legislative Decree 116/08 and following the criteria established by the ministerial decree of 30 March 2010 and modified by the Ministerial Decree April 19, 2018.
The bathing suitability of the coastal areas for the 2024 bathing season has been defined in accordance with the regulation with the publication on the BURC n.90 of 27/12/2023 of DGR n.755 of 18/12/2023 relating to: “BATHING WATER QUALITY CLASSIFICATION FOR THE YEAR 2024”, based on the checks carried out by ARPAC from 1 April to 30 September of the last four bathing seasons (2020-2021-2022-2023).
The suitability judgment at the beginning of the bathing season, expressed in the resolution, derives from the statistical analysis of the last four years of monitoring based on the analytical results of two bacteriological parameters: Escherichia coli ed Intestinal enterococci considered by the World Health Organization to be specific indicators of faecal contamination.
