Pärnu is the summer capital, this city is promoted to tourists as a tourist city. When we think of Pärnu, the first thing that comes to mind is the sun, summer and the beach. But unfortunately, with this beautiful idea, things in Pärnu are bad, even very bad.

It is no news to anyone that many Pärnu beaches (Vana-Pärnu beach, Raeküla beach, Mai beach) are among the most polluted in Estonia according to the long-term measurements of the Health Board, because the bathing water quality has been of poor quality based on the average assessment of recent years and the health board has not even recommended bathing there in humans, because bathing water is literally polluted with fecal bacteria. I am also adding here the overview of the assessments prepared by the Health Board to the link below: https://vtiav.sm.ee/index.php/?active_tab_id=SV

Here is information about the evaluation of the health board: https://parnu.postimees.ee/7405080/parnu-randade-vee-kvalitet-halveneb-uks-plaazidest-tuleb-sulgeda

The results of the measurements have revealed that the pollution of the aforementioned Pärnu beaches has been caused by various enterococci and colibacteria, which are mainly found in animal feces.

What is enterococcus? Enterococci are bacteria that live in the intestines of humans, birds and warm-blooded animals and on plants. At the same time, fecal contamination of water can also be determined through enterococci. These bacteria are important research material, because enterococci often become resistant to antibiotics and simply acquire additional resistance genes from the environment.

What is coli? Escherichia coli, or intestinal bacteria, or coli-bacteria, or colibacter, is one of the many species of rod-shaped bacteria belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae, which mainly lives in the intestines of mammals. Intestinal rods living in the large intestine contribute to the processing of waste products and the absorption of food, and they also produce vitamin K.

As a result of the above, it goes without saying that the mentioned bacteria can get into the bathing water only from animal excrement, whether it is the excrement produced when bathing a pet or the excrement of cows sunbathing on the beach meadows, which are washed into the bathing water during rainy weather and floods.

The most polluted beaches in Pärnu are Vana-Pärnu beach, which is only 200m away from the bottom beach of Pärnu, and also Raeküla beach.

For some incomprehensible reason, however, cows graze near the beaches of Estonia's summer capital, which pollute this beautiful beach, thereby endangering people enjoying bathing and their children, who are unaware of the health-threatening pollution of this beach. In addition to droppings, beach cows also attract swarms and other nuisance insects.

In addition to cows, bathing pets is definitely one of the causes of pollution, because pets also pass their feces when swimming or walking along the beach. I have even run into them many times.

The beaches of Pärnu, as the summer capital, should be the cleanest in Estonia, not the most polluted. At this point, however, we can all improve life in Pärnu together, and here I propose to collect signatures to clean the beaches of the summer capital. All beaches in Pärnu should be the cleanest in Estonia and set an example for the whole of Estonia, because Pärnu is, after all, the summer capital. In order for the Pärnu beaches to become clean, the Pärnu municipality must introduce a complete ban on animals on public beaches, including pets and cows, and should also come up with a less dangerous alternative than beach cows for beach meadow maintenance.

However, a choice must be made as to which is more important, the vegetation that these cows supposedly care for or the health of all people and children and, in a broader sense, the image of the summer capital of Pärnu in the eyes of the tourists who visit us.

We can all change that. We are collecting signatures to ban animals on all public beaches in Pärnu and together we will make the beaches of the summer capital the most beautiful and cleanest in Estonia.