Maybe this isn't all that surprising, but it's still pretty disturbing. I just came across the results of a 2004 study that compared the relative health of California surfers from urban and rural areas. The results? Those city surfers, from northern Orange County beaches, reported nearly double the illness of their country counterparts up in rural Santa Cruz County. All indicators point to "urban runoff" (a catchall term for general urban filth--like sewage overflow and rainwater that's picked up pesticides, trash, and more from around the city) as the culprit of the elevated levels of sickness. The symptoms most frequently reported? How about respiratory disease, fever, nausea, gastrointestinal illness, sore throat, and vomiting. Not so awesome.

We'll have some more info about this--and plenty of other alarming news about our oceans and beaches--in NRDC's soon forthcoming Testing the Waters report. Or, to catch up on last year's report, look here.