Britains beaches 'cleaner than ever'

A year after Britain's beaches were named the worst in the EU, a new report has found that there have been drastic improvements made to water quality. Beaches across the UK are now cleaner than ever, according to a survey performed by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS).

Of the 734 UK beaches that were included in the survey, 538 were found to have "excellent" quality levels, according to the Good Beach Guide released on Tuesday (April 15th). This means that a record 73 per cent of beaches in Britain have been ranked as having the highest level of water quality that the guide awards.

The survey looked at beaches in the UK between May and September last year, with researchers suggesting that less pollution was able to filter down to the beaches due to the very dry summer the country experienced. With less rainfall, the impact on beaches was reduced, meaning that 135 more beaches achieved excellent status compared to 2012.

This is a stark contrast to the most recent report from the European Environment Agency, which last year claimed that Britain's beaches were among the worst in the EU. Only 58 per cent of tested beaches in the report achieved "excellent" status, with six per cent failing to achieve even minimum quality standards.

However, the EU report related to testing that was performed in 2012, which means that the change in weather patterns could explain the difference between findings, especially as 2013's summer was one of the driest on record.

In comparison, Britain experienced very wet weather during the summers of 2008, 2009 and 2012, possibly causing more pollution to run into the sea, impacting water quality. The country could possibly see the same thing happening this year, as data from the Met Office suggests the the early summer is going to be quite wet.

Under the EU Bathing Water Directive, all beaches in the UK will be required to meet the minimum standards, which will be measured using a stricter set of guidelines than are currently in use.