A few thoughts about sea water
EU bathing waters
All larger beaches in the EU are registered as EU Bathing Waters and regulated and classified accordingly, based on a so called ‘EU directive’. Our beach, Sörvik or Vita Sand (White Sand) as most call it, is also an EU beach. This means, among other things, that the municipality establishes a "bathing water profile" and takes water samples at least once a month during the bathing season. The results are reported to the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management, and based on a four-year period of such tests, the authority classifies the bathing site. The municipality then assigns a classification to the beach.
All beaches can sometimes get a less good sample result. This can be due to particular circumstances, it can be because the sample was taken a few days after heavy rain which swept soil and rock particles into the sea, it can be due to emissions from boats or farming. Wind and currents can create different conditions from one bay to another, from one day to another.
Sörvik has been classified “Excellent bathing water quality” since 2018. All samples up to 9 August 2021 showed good bathing waters. The samples taken on 9 and 12 August 2021 however showed high concentrations of entercoccus, and a temporary advisory not to swim was put in place at Sörvik. A new sample taken on 19 August 2021 showed that the water quality was good again and the advisory was removed.
Kungsbacka municipality can't say with any certainty what the temporarily elevated values were due to, but at the time of the test it was raining heavily and that could, as mentioned above, have been a contributing factor. Due to these two samples in August 2021, the classification of Sörvik during the 2022 swimming season changed to "Poor bathing water quality" and swimming was not advised. The EU directive doesn’t take into account the later tests which again showed good water quality. And regardless of what upcoming bathing water samples during the season show, the classification remains.
Is is unsafe to swim?
No. At least no more unsafe than swimming anywhere else. And no more “unsafe” than it was to swim at Sörvik than before the samples were taken. A bathing water sample is a ‘snapshot’ of when the sample is taken, and doesn’t say anything about the water quality now or tomorrow. We will continue after consultation with the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management, to advise our guests to keep an eye on the results of the most recent water samples. Water samples were taken on 12 times during April to Augusti 2022 and they al showed showed that the water was excellent quality. Kungsbacka municipality will post the results of all samples taken in Sörvik during the swimming season on the notice board by the beach.
Enjoy swimming in the sea!
As far as we know swimming at Sörvik is going to be as wonderful this summer as it is every year. There can, as there can be everywhere, every summer, be the odd day, after heavy rain or some other unforeseen event, when we perhaps should stay on the beach instead. But we hope that you’ll enjoy salty swims and our fantastic white sands every other day.
Peter and Annika