UK beaches suffer drop in water quality following washout 2012

Jessica Aldred in the Guardian (UK): The number of UK beaches failing to meet minimum standards for water quality and pollution has risen after one of the wettest summers on record in 2012.

The Marine Conservation Society's (MCS) annual Good Beach Guide found that 42 beaches failed to meet the minimum European standards for bathing water quality – 17 more than in last year's guide. It recommended only 403 of the 754 bathing beaches tested in 2012 as having excellent water quality – 113 less than last year.

Months of rain and flooding in many parts of the UK last year washed pollution from towns and cities, farms and sewers into the sea. Sewage and animal waste contains bacteria and viruses that can result in ear, nose or throat infections, and gastroenteritis....

Southsea beach, England, from Snapshots Of The Past, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license