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Before you pack your bags to go enjoy fun in the sun at your local beach, you might want to check online first.

The Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) debuted a new online tool that allows beach goers to search the water quality at local beaches by postal zip code. An application for mobile devices is also in the works.

"Having that information when you're planning the trip is far more important than when you've taken the trip," Steve Fleischli, Director of NRDC's Water Program told Reuters.

According to NRDC, 2011 "was one of the worst on record in terms of bacterial pollution from human and animal waste." Researchers surveyed the quality of water at over 3,000 beaches in the United States. In addition, state and local beach officials reported the third-highest number of closings and advisory days in over 20 years.

Delware's beaches reported the lowest levels of contamination in the country, although not a popular destination for beach bums. On the other hand, Louisiana, again, violated federal beach water standards.

Pollution of beach water can be caused by sewage and stormwater runoffs and swimmers can be impacted adversely.  Effects of swimming in contaminated water include diarrhea, pink eye, ear, nose and throat problems, respiratory ailments and several neurological disorders. Small children, senior citizens and people with weak immune systems are most at risk from exposure.

The NRDC is pushing for preventive efforts like green roofs to porous pavement that allow stormwater to run back into the ground naturally rather than carrying waste from dirty streets into local beaches. More than 10 trillion gallons of untreated stormwater make their way every year into surface waters, according to EPA estimates.

With this new report out, defunding funding The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act of 2000 will be a topic of debate in Congress over the next several months. Congress

Over the next several months, Congress will debate whether to continue. It set national water quality monitoring and reporting standards and authorized $30 million dollars in funding. But lawmakers have only set aside about one-third of that amount in any fiscal year.