The Ministry of Health and the association Active Consumers are launching joint water purity tests along the Black Sea coast, public service TV BNT reports.

The tests will be conducted after testing by Active Consumers showed that at some beaches, the sea water had Escherichia coli levels several times above the norm. On its part, the Ministry of Health stated that the data was not objective and manipulated public opinion in peak season. According to the health experts, the methods applied in collecting the samples were questionable, nor was it known in which laboratory the testing was done. On their part Active Consumers insisted on joint testing with the Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, scientists from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oceanology, the Basin Directorate and the Ministry of Environment and Water conducted their own tests of the water of the Black Sea, whose results showed it was clean of pathogens, and the only traces of pollution were from fertilizer use.