The Blue Flag is hoisted in Majori

JURMALA - The Blue Flag season started June 9, and the 1.3 kilometer
beach in Majori has the Blue Flag of safety hoisted. The 11 beaches
along the Jurmala region altogether stretch 33 kilometers. Should
they all be given the right to raise the Blue Flag, the string of
shores would make the longest sand swimming beach in Europe.

An international jury has to investigate each year whether a beach
should be allowed to fly the blue, meaning a beach has adequate
safety and facilities. It also means the quality of the water is good
enough for taking a swim.

"We will try to get the 33 kilometers of beach to live up to EU
standards for the Blue Flag. It means that the beach and all service
and safety is according to EU standards," Veronika Ramane,
spokeswoman for Jurmala City Council, said.

Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development,
Vladimirs Makarovs, said there is still work to do at the beaches.

"Only when we have 33 kilometers of beach under the Blue Flag, will
we be able to consider ourselves knowing how to take care of what the
nature has given us," Makarovs said, according to Baltic News Service.

Currently repairs of the Bulduri Lifeguard Station are in progress,
and a landscape plan is being drawn up. It will be partially financed
by the state over the next five years, backed by the Ministry of
Environmental Protection and Regional Development, which has proposed
to include the project in the State Investment Program.

"To clean up all 33 kilometers will cost 127,000 lats ($76,200). This
is all our money. Still, we have asked the government to invest in
our beaches in this project over the next five years," Ramane said.

She stressed that the beaches in Jurmala are very safe and good for
children, because its seashores don't have rocks on the ocean floor.

"We want to keep this beach preserved the way it was given to us by
nature," Ramane said.