In my onion the biggest problem in Halkidiki is the lack of cleaning of the waters flowing from the toilettes out into the sea.

Some villages do have something called "biological cleaning". Sounds nice, but in fact it is only separating the @!#$ and the toillette papers from the water. What is happening to the rest of the dirty water then.....? Yes, it is typically let out into the sea by a small river going that way!. This is a BIG scandal when you are considering all the people swimming here - wrongly beliving the sea is as clean as it looks like.

What can be done ? Something must be done now! This is a political problem, and a much bigger part of the communities' budgets must be spent to catch up from this "third-world-standard" to a European standard.

Anyone agree? Suggestions?

I havent seen any evidence of this in my long time in Halkidiki. Where did you get your information? And how do they have all these blue flag beaches if this is the case?

unfortunately its true, sometimes you do see very small particules in the sea when swiming

Well i've spent plenty of time swimming in the sea in all resorts of Halkidiki over my 19 yrs visiting & working there & have to agree with Jane,i've never seen any evidence of this & the rules by which a beach gets it's blue flag are pretty strict by what i know,they don't just srtick them in any beach!! & i'm certain if this were true then the sea would be an "attractive" brown sludgy colour like it is in good old Blackpool & not the beautiful clear waters i know & love!!!!Also would there not be a problem with stomach upsets & infections?Never had any problems & don't know anybody else who has either.Perhaps if you give us an idea on where you got your information then we could check it out for ourselves!

P.S yes you probably do see small particles when swimming in the sea.......it's called SEAWEED & if you know for certain that it's anything other than seaweed or general sea type stuff then i'd love to know exactly HOW!!!!!!

erm try the bay in seloniki where the sewers run into the sea

but havnt seen any thing around fourka skioni or polychrono apart from BIG brown and Blue jelly fish

in seloniki ive seen ladies things and other stuff floating about whilst fishing there

ill get my coat

Hi, with respect Salonica is a city and not Halkidiki. Like Kerry I have swum in most places around Kassandra, like Kriopigi, Skioni, Polichroni, Pefkohori, Hanioti, Paliori, Fourka, Mola Kaliva etc etc., and I have never seen anything other than very clear clean water with fishes and some jellyfish now and then. Also I have NEVER had an upset stomach or illness and I am in the sea every day (even when we were over there for 8 months I dont think I missed more than a few days), so from April to Oct I have never seen anything in Halkidiki. Salonica, I cannot speak for as I dont swim in the city sea anywhere in the world.

Hi,
It is of course nice when some people haven't seen this problems in their particular places. I have not my self experinced any problems with illness cased by the sea-water. But it is still a fact that the water from the toillettes is not satisfactorily cleaned before it is let out nto the sea. This is the case for mayby not all but many villages. I know a place in Halkidiki where the Blue Flag is standing 700 meters from a small river that is pumping out polluted water from the nearby village. You don't need to be an expert on the field to understand. It is just to go there and look and smell!. This Blue-Flag-beach is very nice and clean when the winds do not come from the direction of the river.

I suggest that everyone could collect facts, by investigating how the toillette water is handled in "your" village. Than you will see....

Asking the locals about this is a very good way to make you impopular.

Perhapsif you named the village it might help seeing as I and Kerry have not seen any sign of this nearly all over the peninsula. If it is as bad as you say, then we need to know and so do the locals. So name the village please.

I don't want to pinpoint a special village, because the problem is concerning several of them. Even if the water looks clear this is not a guarantee that it is so in fact, some chemical analysis has to be done. This summer it was also an article about the problem in a news letter of the real estate brookers operating in Halkidiki as it risks to affect their business in a negative direction.
My recommendation is that every one - rather easily - could check up the situation in "their" village. And if the conditions are found to be improper try to create an opinon abot the problem. Remember also that we the visitors are not voting in the greek elections...

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Sakis thanks for yor reply,

I agree with you that Halkidiki has world class beaches and I myself think it is one of the most fantastic spots in all Greece.

My intention is to keep it that way. I have not got wrong info about the problem I am adressing and I have not been told to write what I have written.

Can you give us some facts on how the toillette-water are cleaned?

Well, just to add, in my 2 years working there I never saw anything, my husband swam in that sea everday in the summer for the 10 odd years he was working there and nothing. You may see the odd bit cause a lot of children swim in the sea and without being to blunt they don't really care where they do there business.
When the sea is rough a lot of debris and stuff is washed up from other shores but I have never seen anything gross and never had a sick guest in 2 years from the sea.

This is also something I found on :
[72.14.203.104]

The sea and the many clean beaches receive every year
more blue flags from the European Community than any othew Prefecture (42 blue flags in 1997). Moreover Halkidiki has a well developed hotel infrastructure, with accommodation ranging grom small. Clean traditional lodgings to large luxury hotel complexes.

lol

Well Sakis, I dont know where Johnny has got this information or idea from. I have been coming to Halkidiki for over 25 years and have been all around Kassandra peninsula, sometimes in very remote bays and I have never experienced any problems at all. I am sure if there was a real problem they water just could not be as clear as it is.

Anyway, it wont stop me from coming, I just hope the hard hitting title of his email does not worry people, they must make their own minds up.

It would be ludicrous to release sewage into the sea in an area reknowned for its sea and clean beaches. Especially with all the development and money that has gone into Halkidiki over the last ten years.

Johnny, you have to be more specific if you have information. If you really believe what you are saying why cant you name the village(s). They really should have the opportunity to talk back and put their points forward.

Lets be honest I would prefer to swim off the beaches in Halkidiki than any part of the UK.
I have dived snorkled and swam all around Halkidiki for the last nine years and have seen nothing that looked like sewage or even a pipe outlet.
Phil.

I also prefer to swim in Halkidiki than in the UK. When I swim in Halkidiki I avoid swimming near villages which I know have problems with the cleaning of the water. The best is to go to a beach situated a couple of kilometers from such a village. The problem concerns those villages with insufficient cleaning of the water. I have no complaints on the hygien kept in the hotels of the area and my critics is not directed to Halkidiki as a whole, but just to these certain villages. I do not have a complete list over all problem-villages, and I don't want to pinpoint certain villages. But as I understand a lot of people here go to Hanioti (I also enjoy to take a trip there from time to time) and I will just take the opportunity to say that I don't know about the specific conditions there concerning this matter. The best thing to do is to check how well the water is cleaned in your "village".

Johnny, is that village in kassandra or in Sithonia?

Nikos

Surely if this is such an issue then it is important to name such villages. One to make people aware of these areas so can decide for themselves and two so something can be done. What is the point of highlighting something that you think is so bad but no one knows where you are talking about.
Everyone on here has only good things to say about the sea surrounding Halkidiki but if you said where it was then maybe people could look into it and support you if it was true.

DON'T THINK PEOPLE TAKE CARE OF ANYTHING THESE DAYS ,PLEASE STOP AND THINK BEFORE YOU THROW PLASTIC BOTTLES AND RUBBISH ON BEACHES,WHO WILL PICK THEM UP WHEN YOUR GONE HELP KEEP HALKIDIKI CLEAN THANKS