The high levels of the harmful bacteria were attributed to damage to the city’s wastewater treatment plants and sanitation infrastructure caused by the April floods, resulting in sewage pollution.
Late on Monday the city said it had decided to open more beaches following “improvements in water quality”.
These included Country Club in central Durban and Anstey’s at Winklespruit south of the city.
However, on Tuesday the latest water quality reading by independent water treatment service Talbot, posted on its Facebook page, showed Country Club beach has 9,208 counts of E. coli/100ml.
Anything more than 500 counts is considered critical and unsafe.
According to the post, Talbot and the municipality did split samples last Thursday “to align on our sampling day, time and methodology at the eThekwini and Umhlanga beaches as well as Umgeni River sites”.
It published both results on Tuesday with differing readings. In some cases, the readings from the municipality are worse than Talbot's.
eThekwini’s results for Country Club beach showed 64,880 counts/100ml.
Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the decision to “open beaches was taken after experts conducted water tests which confirmed beach water quality had improved to an acceptable standard.”
He said Point, uShaka, Wedge, North, Battery, Bay of Plenty, Pipeline, Toti Main, Warner and Umgababa beaches remained open for swimming.
However, both the municipality and Talbot’s readings showed critical counts of E. coli at North and Battery beaches.
Mayisela said Addington, Brighton, Reunion, South, Westbrook, Umhlanga and Thekwini beaches remained closed until further notice.
“Water quality at Umdloti, Laguna and Bronze beaches is at an acceptable standard but these beaches will remain closed as per the directive from the department of economic development, tourism and environmental affairs.
“The city is constantly monitoring water quality at all beaches to ensure the safety of residents and visitors.”
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eThekwini municipality pulls the plug on public beach safety meeting at the last minute
Image: SANDILE NDLOVU
The eThekwini municipality has cancelled a public meeting it was scheduled to host on Tuesday about the state of its beaches.
The city initially invited “stakeholders and affected parties to an engagement regarding its coastline and the state of its swimming beaches”.
According to the invite, feedback would be given on the progress in the replacement and repair of damaged infrastructure, the challenges the city faces and its readiness for the summer and festive season.
The city said the objective of the meeting was to share information, engage in ideas to solve the sewage crisis and forge new partnerships.
Academics, tourism bodies, non-governmental organisations and the business community were expected to attend.
However, late on Monday the meeting due to be held at the Marine Surf Lifesaving Club on the beachfront was cancelled.
TimesLIVE reached out to the municipality about the cancelled engagement and is awaiting a response.
The municipality has been scrambling to fix damaged water infrastructure amid assurances in recent weeks the beaches will be safe when peak season kicks off, and in the face of a pending legal battle with ActionSA over its failure to address the sewage crisis.
Malfunctioning pump stations in and around the city have resulted in high E. coli levels in rivers and the ocean for months, prompting the closure of several beaches.
Image: via Facebook
The high levels of the harmful bacteria were attributed to damage to the city’s wastewater treatment plants and sanitation infrastructure caused by the April floods, resulting in sewage pollution.
Late on Monday the city said it had decided to open more beaches following “improvements in water quality”.
These included Country Club in central Durban and Anstey’s at Winklespruit south of the city.
However, on Tuesday the latest water quality reading by independent water treatment service Talbot, posted on its Facebook page, showed Country Club beach has 9,208 counts of E. coli/100ml.
Anything more than 500 counts is considered critical and unsafe.
According to the post, Talbot and the municipality did split samples last Thursday “to align on our sampling day, time and methodology at the eThekwini and Umhlanga beaches as well as Umgeni River sites”.
It published both results on Tuesday with differing readings. In some cases, the readings from the municipality are worse than Talbot's.
eThekwini’s results for Country Club beach showed 64,880 counts/100ml.
Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the decision to “open beaches was taken after experts conducted water tests which confirmed beach water quality had improved to an acceptable standard.”
He said Point, uShaka, Wedge, North, Battery, Bay of Plenty, Pipeline, Toti Main, Warner and Umgababa beaches remained open for swimming.
However, both the municipality and Talbot’s readings showed critical counts of E. coli at North and Battery beaches.
Mayisela said Addington, Brighton, Reunion, South, Westbrook, Umhlanga and Thekwini beaches remained closed until further notice.
“Water quality at Umdloti, Laguna and Bronze beaches is at an acceptable standard but these beaches will remain closed as per the directive from the department of economic development, tourism and environmental affairs.
“The city is constantly monitoring water quality at all beaches to ensure the safety of residents and visitors.”
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
READ MORE:
'You swim, we swim' — DA challenges eThekwini mayor to take the first dip at sewage-polluted beach
Key Durban sewage pump station repaired in time for festive season
Fears of a bleak Christmas at the coast as KZN beaches fail poo tests
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