The British bases on Wednesday reiterated their warning to refrain from swimming at Lady’s Mile beach, despite the continued insistence by the Environment Department and the mayors of Limassol and Kourion that the waters are safe.

Asked by the Cyprus Mail where the discrepancy lay, director of the Environment Department Theodoulos Mesimeris insisted in his claims that the seawaters at Lady’s Mile had been found to be not only adequate but of “Excellent” [that is the highest-rated] quality, as per the latest samples taken by the state.

“I cannot answer as to why the British bases’ authorities are disputing our findings,” he said.

Mesimeris went on to refer to an EU directive which has been implemented since 2006, which he said the state service follows strictly at 123 seawater sampling points island-wide.

In 2012 the British bases authorities adopted the very same framework via the Bathing Water Ordinance and, moreover, legally, sampling is to be delegated to the Republic’s authorities, he said.

Mesimeris added that it was the first time the state’s water sampling findings have been called into question by the bases authorities, and recalled that in the past beaches had been closed off by the state service any time the water was deemed to pose a risk to swimmers.

Earlier, the British bases issued an official statement saying: “We wish to reach a common understanding of the situation as soon as possible, in order to avoid confusion and ensure public safety.” The statement added that the differing results might be “due to the application of different methodologies, different sampling or times of collections and locations.”

According to bases’ officials, both the government and the bases have used a “membrane filtration method” to analyse the waters, allowing for results within 48 hours. Additionally, the bases said they used the “enterolert method” which delivers results within 18 hours.

Results of the new round of sampling conducted on Tuesday are expected by the end of this week and further in-depth test results by next week.

Both methods were conducted by an internationally accredited supplier and recognised under ISO standards, the bases assured.

“The SBA [Sovereign Bases Area] administration has a legal obligation to inform the public if there is evidence indicating poor water quality and reiterates the appeal to avoid swimming in the area,” the bases emphasised.

While the bases continue to investigate the source of the issue, they have advised against swimming at Lady’s Mile until water quality is confirmed to be within safe limits.

But Limassol mayor Yiannis Armeftis and Kourion mayor Pantelis Georgiou on Wednesday afternoon issued an announcement saying that the bathing water at Lady’s Mile could be classified as “excellent”.

“In none of the sampling points of the Lady’s Mile, was contamination exceeding the limits detected,” they told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), adding that sampling had been carried out on Monday in an “attempt to clear the air following the British bases’ announcement”.

Kourion mayor Georgiou likewise confirmed that water samples taken in front of the four restaurants within his municipal boundaries showed no trace of e-coliform bacteria.