Durban – Results from beach water testing samples have revealed that some Durban beaches have poor water quality, while two uMhlanga beaches had extremely high and undetectable levels of E. coli before the weekend.
On Monday morning, Pete’s Post, a Facebook page that focuses on matters affecting communities, asked if anyone had swum in uMhlanga over the weekend.
“If you become symptomatic for E. coli or shigella, please seek medical attention immediately,” Pete’s Post said.
“uMhlanga Main was open the whole weekend… Despite being highly contaminated for the preceding week! You were swimming in other people’s s**t…. There is no way to sugar-coat that!”
Pete’s Post was backed up by water sampling results for uMhlanga beaches, with the latest samples taken on December 7. The results revealed that Bronze Beach and uMhlanga Main Beach exceeded the detection limit, while Durban View Park Beach and Eastmoor Crescent Beach had critical E. coli levels.
Also on Monday, the eThekwini Municipality shared the latest results from the joint sampling of beach water quality that it conducted with Adopt-A-River, a non-profit organisation whose samples are tested by an independent laboratory, Talbot.
The municipality said the joint sampling was done on December 7.
“These results show levels of E. coli that are higher than normal. This is after several days of heavy rainfall in Durban, which washes pollution from rivers, streams, and stormwater systems into the ocean. This has been linked to the latest ‘poor’ beach water quality results,” the municipality said.
“It is common to have poor water quality when heavy rains continue to batter the city. This results in pollution, including foreign objects, washing from rivers and streams as well as other water sources into the ocean.”
The municipality also said that Durban has experienced several days of heavy rain since last week, which has also led to the postponement of some outdoor events.
“The beaches with ‘poor’ water quality have been closed while re-sampling and monitoring of the beaches continue,” the municipality said.
It added that repairs and maintenance of sanitation infrastructure are also continuing. Significant improvement has been made following the extensive flood damage.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, the eThekwini Municipality’s human settlements and infrastructure chairperson Themba Mvubu said that following allegations of sewage spillage at Bronze Beach in uMhlanga by ActionSA, he could confirm that the water quality is at an acceptable standard. All uMhlanga beaches are safe and readily available for the public during the festive season.
Mvubu went to Bronze Beach to check the state of the beach because they saw reports on social media that the beach was not safe for people to swim.
“We can confirm that we’ve done an assessment, there were people at the beach, swimming,” Mvubu said.
He agreed that there was an incident that happened. He said there was a technical issue in one of the underground pump stations and an overflow resulting in water coming out of the stormwater drain.
“That water was suspected of having high levels of E. coli, but we can confirm now that all uMhlanga beaches are ready to receive visitors and are all safe for people to swim in,” Mvubu said.
He said they wanted to reiterate that, because when they saw the reports, they wanted to take it upon themselves to get there physically so they could address it.
“We spoke to officials who had accompanied us just to confirm and ensure that all uMhlanga beaches are ready for people to swim, Bronze, uMhlanga Main, all those beaches, we can confirm they are ready. The water is also safe for people to swim,” Mvubu said.
He added that it was not sewage that was flowing from a pipe, but rather stormwater.
“If there is excessive stormwater, the water is discharged from there. It’s not contaminated water. It is clean water, it’s just rainwater and so on,” Mvubu said.
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