Beach water testing shows transparency, say eThekwini officials

eThekwini municipality's weekly testing is more frequent than any other city and allows for quick detection of unsafe beaches to make quick interventions.

“This city is probably the only one that tests so often, the frequency is almost two times that of others. Other cities test once per fortnight. So if they’ve tested on the 20th, then the next test will be in January. So whatever happens in between, no one else will be able to pick up,” said city manager Musa Mbhele.

The state of Durban beaches has fluctuated since the April 2022 floods, with many instances of closures and reopening owing to high levels of E coli bacteria caused by waste and other unwanted material being washed into the ocean.

That necessitated the municipality to do constant water quality testing and publish the results for the public to ascertain which beaches are safe for swimming.

eThekwini has continued its weekly water quality tests, which it now conducts along with independent water sampling company Talbot and the Durban University of Technology.

Mbhele said they’ve invested a lot in repairing wastewater treatment plants, pumps and other infrastructure across the city, which has resulted in marked improvement in the state of the beaches compared to the same time last year.

“It is a really painful but necessary process. We want to do the real McCoy because we know that over time we will deal with that problem permanently.”

It is for that reason Mbhele feels beachgoers are safer in the city. He said the municipality hides nothing concerning the safety of beaches and is not afraid to shut them until they have the green light to open.

Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said they would continue the weekly joint sampling and publishing of the results to keep the public abreast of the water quality results.

“The monitoring and routine weekly testing across all the city’s 23 bathing beaches continues and if there are any challenges with water quality, we don’t hesitate to close affected beaches because the safety of the public is of paramount importance to us. The closed beaches are re-opened once testing proves acceptable water quality,” he said.

“We pride ourselves, as a city, that even if it happens that eThekwini was to remain with only 15 beaches cleared by the result, we would still be leading other cities in terms of the number of beaches that we have. Other cities are big but only have few beaches.”

Three beaches — Pipeline, Winklespruit and Anstey’s — were closed during the December 16 long weekend.

The city said Ohlange estuary mouth, Umhlanga lagoon and the adjoining beach remain closed since July 2021, after being contaminated by a chemical spill from the UPL warehouse. The city emphasised on Monday, however, that only 1km of the beach on either side of the lagoon is closed, not the entire beach.

Kaunda reopened the Whalebone Pier in Umhlanga on Thursday, which had been closed for three months for renovations.

“The main aim of this R3.2m project was to extend the longevity of the concrete. The pier is a tourist drawcard and remains one of the most photographed places in Durban,” he said.

He also announced that 34 swimming pools were operational in the city and that the Children’s Amusement Centre swimming pool on Durban beachfront will be re-opened this week.

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