Integrated Assessment of Bathing Water Quality Along the Romanian Black Sea Coast

The quality of bathing waters along the Romanian Black Sea coast is critical to environmental conservation and sustainable tourism development. This study assesses water quality at several key beaches along the Black Sea Littoral in Romania, using a dataset collected from 2022 to 2024 at 20 locations. Two methods are employed for this aim. The first utilizes the Bathing Water Directive (BWD), considering only the E. coli (EC) and Intestinal Enterococci (IE) as pollutants. The second proposes a water quality index (WQI) that considers temperature (T), pH, salinity, nitrite ion (NO2-), and ammonia ion (NH4+) together with EC and IE. Results show that while most beaches meet European Union water quality standards, specific areas, particularly in the Năvodari, Vadu, and Mamaia sectors, exhibit elevated bacterial contamination. The findings underscore the need for enhanced wastewater treatment and stricter monitoring to support the region’s eco-friendly tourism aims.