Students are finishing their exams and, with the temperatures rising, families will soon start flocking to the beach on a regular basis. Some have already been, but for many, summer only starts when school is over.

Those who have been to one of the many beaches that dot these islands have not received a warm welcome – this year it seems that jellyfish will be making life difficult for swimmers in various parts of the islands. The Malta Independent on two occasions has reported about what can easily be described as an invasion of jellyfish, considering the amounts that were picked up by our cameras in Bahar ic-Caghaq.

One cannot really exercise control or in any way predict this natural phenomenon which does create a lot of inconvenience to a sea-loving nation such as ours. What swimmers hope is that they will be able to enjoy a day at the beach without having to worry about being stung. But many will not take any chances.

What is equally worrying is the state of the water quality which, according to a European Union report published last week, was not as positive as one would have expected at the start of summer.

To be fair, the report deals with the situation last year, and it does not necessarily follow that the problems still exist. But such a report does throw bad light and people could still tend to be suspicious.

The Department of Information was quick to point out that Malta’s beaches were fit for bathing. “Although the EU Bathing Water Quality Report does not give a good classification for Malta, the public has to be correctly informed that our bathing areas were fit for bathing during the bathing season 2005, based on the microbiological quality,” the DOI said.

For one thing, the EU rapped Malta for not sufficiently sampling 46 of the 87 bathing spots it was meant to monitor. That is, in itself, worrying. The DOI said that this resulted because of an erroneous interpretation of an EU directive on the matter by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

The DOI said that although these sites were in conformity with the microbiological parameters, they were still administratively classified as insufficiently monitored. Mepa should not have allowed something like this to happen because, after all, it has its responsibilities towards the many families that use public beaches during their free time in summer.

Now that the mistake has been pointed out, the DOI has said that Mepa has taken all the necessary measures to see that it follows the directive as stipulated. It is therefore imperative that Mepa carries out its duties properly this summer season in the best interest of safety.

The EU report pointed out that out of the 41 areas that were adequately monitored, six did not meet the minimum standards. They are the Exiles and Ghar id-Dud beaches in Sliema, the left-hand side of St George’s Bay, the right-hand side of Xlendi Bay, the area near the Marsascala waterpolo club and the beach at the bottom of Wilga Street in Paceville.

All turn out to be quite popular beaches, as were in fact many others which last year were not monitored or were monitored insufficiently.

Although there is no cause for alarm, it is important that the people know that the waters they are swimming in are clean and fit for bathing. This monitoring should be carried out on a regular basis and warning notices should be put up as quickly as possible if it is discovered that the waters are unclean.

In this way, the people would know where and when they can swim. Jellyfish permitting, that is.