Water at nearly all Europe's coastal and inland bathing sites is clean enough to bathe and swim in, despite a slight decrease in quality.
The top performers in 2010 were Cyprus, with 100% of sites rated excellent, followed by Croatia (97.3%) and Malta (95.4%).
In the UK, 81.7% of sites were excellent, 96.9% were good, while 16 bathing spots failed to make the grade.
92% of beaches and 90% of rivers and lakes currently meet the EU's minimum standards for cleanliness.
The findings - from the European Environment Agency's annual bathing water report - are based on regular samples taken from more than 21 000 coastal and inland bathing sites across Europe. The sites were regularly tested for harmful pollutants and bacteria, such as E. coli.
While overall fewer sites met the EU's minimum standards compared with 2009, a number of countries registered exceptional results.
The European Environment Agency has called on EU countries to do more to improve water quality across Europe.
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