Britain's beaches are the cleanest since records began nearly 20 years ago, thanks to last summer's lack of rain.

The driest weather in England and Wales since 1995 substantially reduced the amount of storm pollution entering the sea during weekly tests between May and September last year, said The Marine Conservation Society (MCS).

The Society today announced a record high in the number of beaches recommended in its annual Good Beach Guide. Over 500 UK bathing beaches are recommended in 2006 for excellent water quality out of the 800 tested, smashing the previous record of 453 set in 2004.

The lack of run-off water and the subsequent benefit to bathing water quality pushes the number of UK beaches recommended by MCS above 500 for the first time since the Guide was launched in 1987. The number of beaches failing the minimum legal water quality standard drops to 30, a fall of 42 per cent from the 52 failures in 2005.

Thomas Bell, MCS Coastal Pollution Officer, said: "The results are fantastic news for UK beach-goers, who can choose from a record 507 recommended bathing sites. Britain's beaches have definitely bounced back from the relative low of summer 2004, which was one of the wettest on record."

The best performing regions include South East England (107 recommended, increase 26 per cent), North East England (44 recommended, increase 69 per cent) and Wales (120 recommended, increase 32 per cent). Scotland had no change (50 recommended) and Northern Ireland saw a slight increase (8 recommended). No region suffered a decrease in the number recommended beaches.

Bell continued: "There was so little storm related pollution running into the sea last summer that bathing water quality remained consistently high, particularly on beaches in South East England and around Cardigan Bay in Wales. Water companies have also invested heavily in wastewater management systems over the last ten years, and these two factors combined to produce great water quality results."

The MCS Good Beach Guide is one of four beach 'award' initiatives, but is the only scheme that focuses entirely on water quality standards and the risk of sewage pollution. MCS will only recommend beaches in the Good Beach Guide if they meet the Guideline European water quality standard, and are not affected by inadequately treated sewage.

This 19th edition of the Good Beach Guide is published in support of the MCS Campaign for Clean Seas, and is available exclusively online at www.goodbeachguide.co.uk

Detailed Regional Breakdown:

South West - 78% of beaches in the South West are recommended - 152 out of 195 monitored - which is a new record. 1 beach failed the EC Mandatory water quality standard. South West Water spent £1 billion between 1995 and 2005 on its 'Clean Sweep' coastal sewage treatment improvement programme, and this coupled with below average rainfall through the spring and summer means that it ties as top performing region with the South East.

South East - The driest weather in over 30 years means 78% of beaches in the South East are now recommended - 107 out of 137 monitored. No beaches failed the EC Mandatory water quality standard, and the region ties as top performer with the South West. Further action to tackle diffuse pollution and further improvements to emergency storm discharges are required, but coastal sewage treatment works have significantly improved and the continued dry weather is good news for the beaches.

North West - No change in the North West from 2005 with 7 beaches recommended out of 34 monitored. 2 beaches failed the EC Mandatory water quality standard. The majority of continuous sewage outfalls are now treated to tertiary standard, but United Utilities failed to deliver a quarter of its planned programme of improvements to combined sewer overflows, many of which intermittently discharge raw sewage to the sea. The region suffers from diffuse pollution impacts which are being tackled through the Regional Coastal Forum, but MCS would also like to see more beaches tested for water quality by the Environment Agency.

North East - 67% of beaches in the North East are recommended - 44 out 66 monitored - which is the biggest percentage increase (+69%) of any region and a new record. Rainfall was slightly below average through spring and summer, but huge investment programmes from the Northumbrian and Yorkshire water companies mean that all continuous sewage discharges to bathing sites bar one are now treated to secondary standard or better. However, a third of the combined sewer overflows are still unsatisfactory, and beaches to the south of Sunderland are presently suffering from sewage related debris.

Scotland - No change in Scotland from 2005 with 50 beaches recommended out of 117 monitored. 12 beaches failed the EC Mandatory water quality standard - a reduction of 2 on last year. In contrast to England and Wales, rainfall in Scotland was above average through 2005, and the south west region is particularly vulnerable to diffuse pollution from farm land. Action is being taken to mitigate these problems, and a new investment programme of £2.15 billion has been outlined by Scottish Water between 2006 and 2010.

Wales - 65% of Welsh beaches are recommended - 120 out of 185 monitored - which is a new record. The beaches around Cardigan Bay showed particular improvement. Factors contributing to this huge increase in recommended beaches include below average rainfall through the summer, investment by Welsh Water to tackle the 1 in 5 combined sewer overflows that are still unsatisfactory, and a Welsh Assembly Government funded project to tackle diffuse pollution. 7 beaches failed the EC Mandatory water quality standard.

Northern Ireland - 8 beaches in Northern Ireland are recommended out of 27 monitored, an increase of 2 on 2005. 1 beach failed the EC Mandatory water quality standard. Despite the below average rainfall, the number of recommended beaches is still low and the province is in dire need of investment. A Government report judged Northern Ireland Water Service to be responsible for 23.5% of all water pollution incidents in 2005, but the company is now due to spend £420 million in wastewater treatment works and sewer network upgrades.

Channel Islands - 17 beaches are recommended out of 29 monitored (59%), an increase of 3 on 2005. 1 beach failed the EC Mandatory water quality standard. Jersey continues to be the top performing island (81% of beaches recommended) thanks to its state-of-the-art tertiary sewage treatment facilities, and Guernsey is now initiating welcome and long overdue steps to tackle preliminary treated discharges with the publication of a government Green Paper last January. Alderney enters the Good Beach Guide for the first time but no beaches were graded by MCS due to a lack of monitoring data.

Isle of Man - 2 beaches are recommended out of 16 monitored - an increase of 1 from 2005, and the number of bathing sites failing the EC Mandatory water quality standard has fallen from 9 in 2005 to 4 this year. The Isle of Man has yet to see real benefit to its beaches from the £10 million IRIS tertiary treatment plant which came on stream in 2004, but the results were helped by below average rainfall through the middle of the summer.

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