Lifeguards and members of the surfing community say the quality of the water at beaches in eThekwini changes daily and if E coli levels are bad on a particular day, it may improve hours later depending on whether the wind is offshore or onshore.
This comes after the eThekwini Municipality shared the latest joint sampling results of selected popular bathing beaches conducted with Talbot on behalf of Adopt-A-River taken on December 12.
Point, uShaka, South, North and Battery beaches had excellent E coli results, while Country Club Beach’s results were acceptable.
“These results show ‘excellent’ and ‘acceptable’ water quality that is compliant with acceptable standards ahead of the bumper festive season long weekend,” said the City.
This follows the closure of these beaches on Monday last week owing to poor levels from samples taken on December 7.
Charlotte Atherton, from the Xpression surf store based at Addington Beach, said it’s sad that many people are confused and alarmed by the results of E coli tests and stay away because they don’t feel safe.
“We have to think about wind and tide when we look at these test results,” she said.
Carley Addinoll, a surf coach at Xpression, said that if there is an onshore wind, coming from the ocean towards the shoreline, it will bring whatever is far out at sea back to the shoreline, including bluebottles.
“Usually on those onshore days it tends to get a little bit brown and the ocean becomes really messy and just in general unsettled. Then you get an offshore wind that comes though and blows everything out ... It’s constantly changing.”
Addinoll advised that they use the Windguru wbsite, which shows the arrow directions of onshore or offshore wind conditions daily.
“Today (Sunday) we are getting an onshore wind ... then it says for the next two days, Monday and Tuesday, we are going to have an offshore wind and it’s going to blow everything out, so all you really need is a couple hours of offshore wind and the ocean is clean again,” she said.
Atherton said the problem was that many members of the public are not at the beach every day and they think “Durban is ruined”.
“With our time, everybody is in the water every day so you wouldn’t even need to show me test results because I know from the team they go into the water when it’s a good day for surfing.
“Offshore wind – that’s when everyone surfs. And they are not in the water on an onshore day, which is rough, so no one gets sick, and that for me is a live case study,” she said.
Dhaya Sewduth, president of Lifesaving SA, said while lifeguards operate in both onshore and offshore conditions to save lives, the wind direction determines the quality of the water.
Sewduth said in the last two to three months there were a number of events, including open water surf swim, galas, nipper carnivals, which are local KZN interclub competitions, and Lifesaving SA has conducted lifesaving events in preparation for next year’s national championships.
Sewduth, who is a body board surfer himself, said that he surfs a few times a week, Friday being the last time he was in the water for at least two hours at a time alongside dozens of other surfers and friends.
“I have not personally come across anybody that has become infected with the E coli levels. I have not come across any reports from lifeguards who are training or who are getting fit for the peak season or surfers,” said Sewduth.
The Mercury