Health checks on Var beaches: how is swimming permitted or prohibited? We explain everything about these tests.

Swim in clean, clear water. And be informed about it. In the heart of summer, how can you know the water quality at your favorite beach when you grab your towel and get ready to settle down on the sand?

No other French department boasts so many swimming spots. With nearly 180 listed beaches, the Var is a champion in the art of getting into the water. Because tourism has historically thrived on the coast. Because its sumptuous landscapes are well worth it. But does the water quality live up to the postcard?

Met on Pipady beach in Toulon, Patricia is sensitive to it. "I looked on the internet for the quality of the water. I come here because it's close to my home, but also because the water is cleaner than at Mourillon." In fact, the beach is rated "excellent" , but so are its neighbors, except for one rated a notch lower, "good" .

The primary control point for bathing water quality is the local level, most often the municipality. "Throughout Europe, bathing water managers declare and monitor their bathing," explains Christelle Bonnans of the regional health agency (ARS). " They are responsible for the quality of their water."

There's a logic to it. Pollution at sea comes from the land – almost always. Locally, the community is best placed to know "the vulnerability profile of its bathing area" - it's even a European obligation - "by identifying potential sources of pollution," emphasizes the head of the environmental health service at the Var delegation of the ARS. If there is contamination, "it's because we missed something," reacts Christelle Bonnans. This means that a source of pollution has not been identified, or that the management measures put in place have not been as effective as expected .

In summer, most often, one sample per week

In addition to local self-monitoring, there is a second level to the control tower – and here the state takes control.

"The minimum frequency [set by] the European directive states that at least two samples must be taken per month," illustrates Christelle Bonnans. " In the Var, for the majority of beaches, we are more like twenty samples during the summer season" – so at a rate of four per month. On Toulon's beaches, the city has ordered a weekly sample from the Regional Health Agency, from mid-May to mid-October 2024.

The results of these samples are accessible from an official website on the quality of bathing water (1).

Data put online

The ARS classification is symbolized by a swimmer topped with colored stars – “site with excellent water quality” (blue), “good quality” (green), “sufficient quality” (orange), or “insufficient quality” (red).

This overall score is calculated based on analyses from the previous four years. Why this period? "The ARS's health inspections have a statistical scope. Taking four years as a reference gives a more robust idea of the quality guarantee of bathing water," comments the expert.

On this same website, more recent information is available, since health analyses are published there throughout the summer. It is therefore possible to know the quality of the water ( "good", "average", or "bad") , almost in real time.

More stringent criteria (or not)

There is another classification , developed by the association Eaux et rivières de Bretagne (2), which is sometimes contrasted with that of the ARS. Based on the same official data, the association applies a stricter assessment grid, in the name of protecting bathers.

The association believes that one can only "bathe with confidence" if a beach has more than 85% of "good quality" samples. Otherwise, it does not hesitate to advise against the site.

On the Var coast, many sites are rated less highly, but this is not systematic.

An example is Saint-Cyr, where two beaches are rated higher in the association ranking than in the ARS ranking. The Saint-Côme West beach goes from "orange" to "green"; the Lecques Vieux-Port from "red" to "orange".

On the beaches of Saint-Cyr, the analyses have been mostly good since the beginning of the summer, with the exception of a "bad" sample at Lecques-Vieux-Port (on July 23). The municipality has carried out "a lot of work on its networks," observes the ARS. And hopes that the work will bear fruit in the long term.

Find out more on the internet... or on site

"When a municipality sees that the quality of bathing has deteriorated, after rain for example, it takes measures to prohibit it," emphasizes Christelle Bonnans. "The beach only reopens when the concentrations of fecal contamination indicators have returned to normal."

But how can you find your way around before going swimming? One possibility is to consult the available data on the internet (see addresses below) . Of course, when arriving at a beach, it is advisable to consult the data displayed (in general). In the event of pollution, the purple flag is hoisted at the lifeguard station.

A good note to finish: the municipalities of the Gulf of Saint-Tropez stand out by posting the results of their self-monitoring online. Although quite rare, this real-time information effort deserves to be commended.

1. The "Water Quality" tab provides access to a map (all of France). Zoom in on the beach of your choice, then click on "Bathing Site Details" to see the most recent health analyses.

2. This is the website of the Waters and Rivers of Brittany association. Direct access to the map (all of France) and easy navigation between the beaches. The ranking is annual and does not provide access to the most recent analyses.

The basics of a good sample

In summer, you can see them, waist-deep in water, a few meters from the shore, filling a bottle with seawater. Then, they close it, place it in a small blue cooler and leave immediately. "We go down to a depth of one meter, the sample is taken 30cm below the surface, in a sterile bottle. The action is done all at once, at a 30° angle ." Christopher Roland is a sampling agent at the Departmental Laboratory of Analysis and Engineering of the VAR (LDAi83).

All summer long, he walks the beaches and down the paths leading to the sea. Each bathing spot listed is included in his bottles. Up to three people per day, they spread out along the Var coastline. "For each sample, we geolocate ourselves and note all the external visual parameters." Water transparency, suspended matter, foam, odor... Knowing that "water can appear clear, but be polluted."

"We can trust"

"The period is very intense, since it represents 5,000 samples and checks over the summer," confirms Thierry Parzys, head of the Laboratory and Health Risks Unit at LDAi83, which depends on the Var Departmental Council. "This includes all the beaches in the Var, as well as public swimming pools." The departmental laboratory is the operator chosen as part of a contract with the Regional Health Agency.

"The Var has good bathing waters, we can be confident," he continues. "The municipalities are concerned about this quality, on which their Blue Flag also depends. They are reacting even faster than before to verify it."

Once a sample is collected, a countdown begins . "From the first sample, we have two hours to get to the Lab'truck," continues Christopher Roland. The Labtruck is the name of a mobile laboratory, which travels around the field and allows samples to be quickly analyzed. This is the job of Mailys Yagoubi, a laboratory technician. "The samples are distributed into dilution tubes, then onto microplates," she describes, as she goes through the manipulations. Everything will be placed in an oven at 40°C.

In a kind of alveoli, enzymes "react with Ecoli and intestinal Enterococci" , the two bacteria being sought. It is by fluorescence that their possible presence will be identified and quantified. "The first reading is done at 24 hours. If contamination is observed, we request another sample immediately, within the day." Confirmation comes 48 hours after the first sample.

In Bandol: "It's good! I just tasted it."

Gravel, pebbles, and a family atmosphere. On the Eden-Roc beach in Bandol, summer has finally begun. Pierre is confident when we talk about the water quality. "It's good," jokes the vacationer, "I just tasted it." He, who has just arrived from Poitiers, is especially "surprised by the fish" he saw while swimming to the crest, a sign of good quality in his eyes. His wife Rachelle had received information about "the closure of all the beaches in Bandol and La Ciotat" after the rains of July 20. Before laying down her towel, she checked the municipal decree posted at the top of the stairs leading to the cove. Yes, the beach is indeed open.

This is even its first summer in two years. This is the period during which Eden-Roc Beach and its neighbor Barry Beach remained closed, due to "direct runoff onto the beach and the transfer of pollution by leaching from urbanized areas," as described in a summary document.

"Faced with this observation and given the work schedule, the municipality had taken the decision to close the beach, since it could not guarantee the good quality of the bathing water," explains the ARS. An extreme measure, taken after two years of "red" classification, insufficient quality.

"We know that the water here is often bad," react Jessica and Claude, Luxembourg vacationers, even though they are staying right by the sea. "Besides, there was some pollution last week. " With their 14-year-old daughter, Lina, the couple uses this beach as a starting point "for paddleboarding." And "when we get home, we take a shower!"

At the back of the beach, there is still the sewage pumping station, which has long been responsible for discharges. The most recent health analyses are displayed on the building. The quality was "average" , due to an excess of enterococcus bacteria (dated July 25).

The town hall explains that it carries out "regular samples, from Monday to Friday, allowing continuous monitoring of water quality" . In the event of a weather event or network incident, the two beaches are closed as a precaution, "for the immediate protection of users" .