Water quality monitoring of the Black Sea has shown it to be “within the norm” along the coastline, the National Environment Agency of Georgia said on Monday.

The Agency said it was measuring the quality of the seawater at nine stations every month, determining the main physical and chemical parameters including salinity, content of dissolved oxygen and biogenic elements.

Research of heavy metals and organic pollutants in the surface and bottom layers is also carried out, it added.

The Agency added it would further improve monitoring systems in accordance with the European Union’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and added it had purchased modern laboratory equipment to help detect “specific pollutants with high accuracy”.

Nugzar Papunidze, the Head of the Integrated Management Department of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Division of the regional Adjara Government, said water quality in the region had improved and was “in full compliance with acceptable standards”.

He also noted the best indicators were recorded in the areas of Sarpi, Kvariati, Makhinjauri and Green Cape areas of the coastline.

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