The Blue Flag is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental Education

Foundation for Environmental Education

The Foundation for Environmental Education is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation promoting sustainable development through environmental education...

 (FEE) that a beach

Beach

A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...

 or marina

Marina

A marina is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters....

 meets its stringent standards.

The Blue Flag is a trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

 owned by FEE which is a not-for-profit

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

, non-governmental organisation consisting of 65 organisations in 60 member countries in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, Oceania

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

.

FEE's Blue Flag criteria include standards for water quality, safety, environmental education and information, the provision of services and general environmental management

Environmental management

Environmental resource management is “a purposeful activity with the goal to maintain and improve the state of an environmental resource affected by human activities” . It is not, as the phrase suggests, the management of the environment as such, but rather the management of the interaction and...

 criteria. The Blue Flag is sought for beaches and marinas as an indication of their high environmental and quality standards.

Certificates, which FEE refers to as awards, are issued on an annual basis to beaches and marinas of FEE member countries. The awards are announced yearly on 5 June for Europe, Canada, Morocco, Tunisia and other countries in a similar geographic location, and on 1 November for the Caribbean, New Zealand, South Africa and other countries in the southern hemisphere

Southern Hemisphere

The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...

.

In the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

, the water quality standards are incorporated in the EC Water Framework Directive

Water framework directive

The Water Framework Directive is a European Union directive which commits European Union member states to achieve good qualitative and quantitative status of all water bodies The Water Framework Directive (more formally the Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23...

.

2009 Awards

As a result of the 2009 awards, a total of 3,458 Blue Flags are waving around the world: 2,808 beaches and 650 Marinas.

2009 Top places

Consistently in the past few years Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 has topped the list for the most Blue Flags awarded, with Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 coming second (like in 2008) and France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 in third place.

Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

 with 53 Blue Flag beaches has three records:

• the most Blue Flags per capita in the world
• the most dense concentration of Blue Flag Beaches
• the most Blue Flag beaches and per coastline length in the whole world.

Table of Blue Flags in force 2009

The table below lists the Blue Flags (both for beaches and marinas) awarded and in force today.
The table can be sorted to show the total number of Blue Flags per country and also the number of Blue Flags per population, per area or per the length of the coastline of each country.

Country	Blue Flag Beaches	Blue Flag Marinas	Total Blue Flags	Population	Area (km2)	Coastline (km)	Blue Flag Beaches per 1,000,000 Population	Total Blue Flags per 1,000,000 Population	Blue Flag Beaches Density per 10,000 km2 Area	Total Blue Flags Density per per 10,000 km2 Area	Blue Flag Beaches per 100 km coastline
The Bahamas	0	3	3	342,000	13,943	3542	0.00	8.77	0.00	2.15	0.00
Belgium	5	8	13	10,754,528	30,528	67	0.46	1.21	1.64	4.26	7.46
Kingdom of Bulgaria	7	1	8	7,606,551	110,879	354	0.92	1.05	0.63	0.72	1.98
Canada	11	3	14	33,739,900	9,984,670	202,080	0.12	0.21	0.00	0.01	0.00
Independent State of Croatia	114	20	134	4,435,056	56,594	5,835	25.70	30.21	20.14	23.68	1.95
Cyprus	53	0	53	801,600	9,251	648	66.12	66.12	57.29	57.29	8.18
Denmark	209	68	277	5,515,287	43,094	7,314	37.89	50.22	48.50	64.28	2.86
Dominican Republic	7	0	7	10,090,000	48,310	1,288	0.69	0.69	1.45	1.45	0.54
Finland	0	23	23	5,340,806	338,145	1,250	0.00	4.31	0.00	0.68	0.00
Early Modern France (inc. territories Overseas departments and territories of France The French Overseas Departments and Territories consist broadly of French-administered territories outside of the European continent. These territories have varying legal status and different levels of autonomy, although all have representation in the Parliament of France , and consequently the... )	285	74	359	65,073,482	632,760	4,668	4.38	5.52	4.50	5.67	6.11
Germany	39	115	154	82,046,000	357,022	2,389	0.48	1.88	1.09	4.31	1.63
Greece	425	8	433	11,257,285	131,957	13,676	37.75	38.46	32.21	32.81	3.11
Iceland	2	5	7	319,326	103,000	4,970	6.26	21.92	0.19	0.68	0.04
Republic of Ireland	74	2	76	4,422,100	70,273	1,448	16.73	17.19	10.53	10.81	5.11
Italy	225	60	285	60,067,554	301,318	7,600	3.75	4.74	7.47	9.46	2.96
Latvia	9	2	11	2,257,300	64,589	498	3.99	4.87	1.39	1.70	1.81
Lithuania	5	0	5	3,349,872	65,300	90	1.49	1.49	0.77	0.77	5.56
Malta	1	0	1	413,627	316	197	2.42	2.42	31.65	31.65	0.51
Kingdom of Montenegro	19	0	19	624,000	13,812	294	30.45	30.45	13.76	13.76	6.46
Morocco	16	0	16	31,538,660	446,550	1,835	0.51	0.51	0.36	0.36	0.87
Netherlands	41	65	106	16,525,751	41,543	815	2.48	6.41	9.87	25.52	5.03
New Zealand	2	1	3	4,318,700	270,467	15,134	0.46	0.69	0.07	0.11	0.01
Norway	3	8	11	4,830,000	323,802	25,148	0.62	2.28	0.09	0.34	0.01
Poland	5	4	9	38,100,700	312,685	440	0.13	0.24	0.16	0.29	1.14
Portugal	225	14	239	10,627,250	92,090	2,753	21.17	22.49	24.43	25.95	8.17
Puerto Rico	5	2	7	3,982,000	8,870	501	1.26	1.76	5.64	7.89	1.00
Kingdom of Romania	0	1	1	21,498,616	238,391	225	0.00	0.05	0.00	0.04	0.00
Russia	0	2	2	141,867,000	17,098,242	37,653	0.00	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.00
Slovenia	6	2	8	2,038,193	20,273	74	2.94	3.93	2.96	3.95	8.11
South Africa	18	0	18	48,697,000	1,221,037	2,798	0.37	0.37	0.15	0.15	0.64
Spain	493	78	571	45,828,172	505,992	6,777	10.76	12.46	9.74	11.28	7.27
Sweden	38	42	80	9,283,722	450,295	3,218	4.09	8.62	0.84	1.78	1.18
Tunisia	5	1	6	10,327,800	163,610	1,148	0.48	0.58	0.31	0.37	0.44
Turkey	279	14	293	71,517,100	783,562	7,200	3.90	4.10	3.56	3.74	3.88
United Kingdom	105	6	111	61,634,599	242,900	12,429	1.70	1.80	4.32	4.57	0.84

History

The Blue Flag was created in France in 1985 as a pilot scheme where French coastal municipalities were awarded the Blue Flag on the basis of criteria covering sewage treatment and bathing water quality.

Blue Flag on European Community level in 1987

1987 was the "European Year of the Environment" and the European Commission was responsible for developing the European Community activities of that year. The Foundation for Environmental Education in Europe (FEEE) presented the concept of the Blue Flag to the Commission, and it was agreed to launch the Blue Flag Programme as one of several "European Year of the Environment" activities in the Community.

The French concept of the Blue Flag was developed on European level to include other areas of environmental management, such as waste management and coastal planning and protection. Besides beaches marinas also became eligible for the Blue Flag.

In 1987, 244 beaches and 208 marinas from 10 countries were awarded the Blue Flag.

Success

There have been increases in the numbers of Blue Flags awarded each year. The criteria have during these years been changed to more strict criteria. As an example, in 1992 the Programme started using the restrictive guideline values in the EEC Bathing Water Directive as imperative criteria, and this was also the year where all Blue Flag criteria became the same in all participating countries.

Outside the European Union

In 2001, FEEE rules were changed to allow non-European national organisations, sharing the objectives of FEEE, to become members, and changed its name by dropping Europe from its name, becoming the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE).

Several organisations and authorities outside the European Union have joined FEE. FEE has been cooperating with UNEP and UN WTO on extending the Programme to areas outside Europe. South Africa, Canada, Morocco, Tunisia, New Zealand and four countries in the Caribbean region are members of FEE. Aruba, Brazil and Malta are currently in the pilot phase of the Programme and Jordan, Macedonia, Turks & Caicos Islands, Ukraine and United Arab Emirates have started the implementation of the Blue Flag Programme.

FEE standards allow for regional variations in beach criteria to reflect specific environmental conditions of a region. As of 2006 an international set of criteria is being used with some variations.

Present program

In 2010 over 3450 beaches and marinas globally were awarded the Blue Flag.

41 countries are currently participating in the Blue Flag Programme: Aruba

Aruba

Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...

, Bahamas, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

, Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

, Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

, Montenegro

Montenegro

Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...

, Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

Eight countries are currently running the programme in the pilot phase.

Blue Flag beach criteria

Environmental Education and Information

• Information relating to coastal zone ecosystems and natural, sensitive areas in the coastal zone must be displayed
• Information about bathing water quality must be displayed
• Information about the Blue Flag Programme must be displayed
• Code of conduct
  Code of Conduct
  A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the responsibilities of or proper practices for an individual, party or organization. Related concepts include ethical codes and honor codes....
  
   for the beach area must be displayed and the laws governing beach use must be easily available to the public upon request
• A minimum of 5 environmental education activities must be offered

Water Quality

• Compliance with the requirements and standards for excellent bathing water quality
• No industrial or sewage
  Sewage
  Sewage is water-carried waste, in solution or suspension, that is intended to be removed from a community. Also known as wastewater, it is more than 99% water and is characterized by volume or rate of flow, physical condition, chemical constituents and the bacteriological organisms that it contains...
  
   related discharges may affect the beach area
• Monitoring on the health of coral reef
  Coral reef
  Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
  
  s located in the vicinity of the beach
• Compliance of the community with requirements for sewage treatment and effluent quality
• Algae or other vegetation should be left to decay on the beach unless it constitutes a nuisance

Environmental Management

• A beach management committee must be established to be in charge of instituting environmental management systems and conduct regular environmental audits of the beach facility
• The beach must comply with all regulations affecting the location and operation of the beach (coastal zone planning and environmental legislation)
• The beach must be clean
• Waste disposal bins/receptacles must be available on/by the beach in adequate numbers, regularly maintained and emptied
• Facilities for receiving recyclable waste materials must be available on/by the beach
• Adequate and clean sanitary facilities
  Sanitary sewer
  A sanitary sewer is a separate underground carriage system specifically for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings to treatment or disposal. Sanitary sewers serving industrial areas also carry industrial wastewater...
  
   with controlled sewage disposal
• On the beach there will be no unauthorised camping or driving and no dumping
• Regulation concerning dogs and other domestic animals on the beach must be strictly enforced
• All buildings and equipment of the beach must be properly maintained
• Sustainable means of transportation must be promoted in the beach area

Safety and services

• An adequate number of lifeguard
  Lifeguard
  A lifeguard supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, or beach. Lifeguards are strong swimmers and trained in first aid, certified in water rescue using a variety of aids and equipment depending on...
  
  s and/or lifesaving equipment must be available at the beach
• First aid
  First aid
  First aid is the provision of initial care for an illness or injury. It is usually performed by non-expert, but trained personnel to a sick or injured person until definitive medical treatment can be accessed. Certain self-limiting illnesses or minor injuries may not require further medical care...
  
   equipment must be available on the beach
• There must be management of different users and uses of the beach so as to prevent conflicts and accidents
• An emergency plans to cope with pollution safety risks must be in place
• There must be safe access to the beach
• The beach area must be patrolled
• A supply of potable drinking water
  Drinking water
  Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...
  
   must be available on the beach
• A minimum of one Blue Flag beach in each municipality must have access and toilet facilities provided for disabled persons
• Map of the beach indicating different facilities must be displayed

Environmental education and information

• Environmental information about natural sensitive nearby land and marine areas is supplied to marina users.
• Code of environmental conduct is posted in the marina.
• Information about the Blue Flag Marina Programme and/or the Blue Flag Marina Criteria are posted in the marina.
• The marina should be able to demonstrate that at least three environmental education activities are offered to the users and staff of the marina
• The Individual Blue Flag for boat owners is offered through the marina.

Environmental management

• Production of an environmental policy and plan at the marina. The plan should include references to water, waste and energy consumption, health and safety issues, and the use of environmentally sound products when available.
• Adequate and properly identified and segregated containers for the storage of hazardous wastes (paints, solvent
  Solvent
  A solvent is a liquid, solid, or gas that dissolves another solid, liquid, or gaseous solute, resulting in a solution that is soluble in a certain volume of solvent at a specified temperature...
  
  s, boat scrapings, antifouling agents, batteries, waste oil
  Waste oil
  Waste oil is defined as any petroleum-based or synthetic oil that, through use or handling, has become unsuitable for its original purpose due to the presence of impurities or loss of original properties.-Differentiating between "waste oil" and "used oil":...
  
  , flares). The wastes should be handled by a licensed contractor and disposed of at a licensed facility for hazardous waste.
• Adequate and well managed litter bins and/or garbage containers. The wastes should be handled by a licensed contractor and disposed of by a licensed facility.
• The marina has facilities for receiving recyclable waste materials, such as bottles, cans, paper, plastic, organic material, etc.
• Bilge water pumping facilities are present in the marina.
• Toilet pumping facilities are present in the marina.
• All buildings and equipment must be properly maintained and in compliance with national legislation. The marina must be in a good integration with the surrounding natural and built environment.
• Adequate, clean and well sign-posted sanitary facilities, including washing facilities and drinking water. Controlled sewage disposal to a licensed sewage treatment.
• If the marina has boat repairing and washing areas, no pollution must enter the sewage system, marina land and water or the natural surroundings.
• Promotion of sustainable transportation.
• No parking/driving in the marina, unless in specific designated areas.

Safety and service

• Adequate, clean and well sign-posted lifesaving, first-aid equipment and fire-fighting equipment. Equipment must be approved by national authorities.
• Emergency plan in case of pollution, fire or other accidents must be produced.
• Safety precautions and information must be posted at the marina.
• Electricity and water is available at the berths, installations must be approved according to national legislation.
• Facilities for disabled people.
• Map indicating the location of the different facilities is posted at the marina.

Water quality

• Visually clean water (no oil, litter, sewage or other evidence of pollution
  Water pollution
  Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies . Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds....
  
  ).

External links