The LA Times reports that an environmental economist at UCLA, in partnership with Stanford University, recently published a study concluding that each year 1.5 million people get sick from visiting California beaches. The study goes so far as to estimate that all those illnesses cost the economy up to $414 million annually.

“Researchers estimated that healthcare costs for beach pollution illnesses ranged from $21 million to $414 million. Those estimates included not only direct losses, such as lost time at work, costs for medical treatment or doctor visits, but also hypothetical costs that beachgoers would be willing to pay to avoid getting sick.”

Usually when economists set out to model the cost of something, it’s because they’ve got some sort of agenda. In this case the agenda appears to be justifying the cost of cleaning up the beaches, so people won’t miss work because they get sick from going to the beach.

Surfers hate it when there’s a water quality advisory at their favorite spot. When the waves are really good, we often roll the dice and paddle out in spite of the risk of contracting some sort of gnarly illness. It’d be great if this study prompts lawmakers to pass legislation that’s designed to promote cleaner beaches, so we can surf without the worry. Realistically, however, that will probably take a while, so in the meantime we should all do our part to keep the water clean.

http://www.earth911.org is a decent place to check the water quality at your local beach and also has information on what you can do to keep the water clean.