Bathing waters in Campania, 2026 season: 2,285 seawater samplings and 50 non-compliant results, about 2% of all checks
The regional environmental agency ARPA Campania summed up the 2026 bathing season in a release published by the Italian SNPA network on 28 September 2026. A total of 2,285 seawater samplings were carried out during the season — at the region’s 323 bathing waters, at 35 additional study points and in ad hoc checks; there were 50 non-compliant results, which the agency links to very low rainfall during a hot summer.
- Monitoring began on 14 April with pre-season samplings at 323 bathing waters (39 in the province of Caserta, 145 in Naples and 139 in Salerno); samples were also taken at 35 additional study points presumed to be at risk of pollution. Besides the scheduled samplings, samples were taken to lift temporary bathing bans, to define the extent of a pollution event, outside bathing areas and after reports of anomalies such as foam, mucilage, jellyfish or unusual water colour.
- ARPA Campania laboratories carried out twice as many determinations as samplings, testing the two faecal contamination indicators that decide whether water is fit for bathing: Escherichia coli and enterococci. Surfactants and hydrocarbons were also analysed, as was the presence of potentially toxic phytoplankton microalgae. The 50 non-compliant results made up about 2% of all checks of various types, while there were many reports of unusual sea colour.
- The 2026 classification, calculated statistically from the results of the four seasons 2022–2025, rated 98% of the monitored coast as fit for bathing: 91% of waters are excellent (89% a year earlier), 5% good, 2% sufficient and 2% poor. From the start of the season the bathing ban covered nine stretches totalling 7.915 km, compared with 9.194 km in 2025 and 15.012 km in 2024; about 60 km of coast not used for bathing (ports, military areas, protected areas, river mouths) was excluded from the count.
- Twenty-nine bathing waters changed class — 21 improved and 8 deteriorated. Besides the impact of rivers, the agency identifies combined sewer systems as the most likely cause of poor quality: during heavy rain they discharge sewage mixed with rainwater into the sea. At the end of the season three non-compliances from samples taken on 16 September remained open: in Pozzuoli, at the study point in Via Partenope in Naples, and in Agropoli at the mouth of the Solofrone river.