Drought: The Unlikely Solution to Cleaner Beaches

Ironically, one upside to the recent California drought is that it has resulted in cleaner and healthier water for beachgoers, a new report says.

Some 95 percent of California beaches earned A or B grades for water quality during the summer of 2013 - a 2 percent improvement from the previous year - according to the annual Beach Report Card released Thursday by the environmental group called Heal the Bay.

SFGate reported that the record-low rainfall means less dangerous bacteria and other pathogens are washed into San Francisco Bay and the Pacific coastline.

"Dry weather has meant less urban runoff. This is all great heading into Memorial Day weekend, but we shouldn't have a false sense of security," cautioned Heal the Bay-affiliate Amanda Griesbach. "Next year, especially if we have an El Niño cycle, things could be very different."

This is Heal the Bay's 24^th annual survey of 650 West Coast beaches. According to the Los Angeles Times, even Los Angeles County beaches showed improvements, which are known for being the most polluted.

The beaches that received the highest grades - A and A+ - were in San Francisco, including Aquatic Beach at the Hyde Street Pier, Ocean Beach at Balboa Avenue and Baker Beach.

Unfortunately, California's most popular beach, Cowell Beach in Santa Cruz, showed the state's worst concentrations of harmful pathogens.

"The good news is that state funding is on the way to fix the problem," Griesbach said. "It's frustrating to see the same beaches on the list every year, but sometimes it takes a long time to prod these agencies into acting. This is one of those situations."

To reach their assessment, the group looked at the amounts of harmful bacteria from sewage leaks, pollution runoff and industry that flushed onto beaches. Such contaminants could cause gastro-intestinal problems like diarrhea, skin rashes or eye, ear or lung infections in people or animals, SFGate reported.

Though the overall results are good news for beachgoers, it doesn't mean that Californians should be welcoming further drought. For The Golden State, 2013 was the driest calendar year in 119 years, according to the Times.