Popular beaches in Durban and on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast are brimming with faecal matter and other toxins, Sunday Times tests of the water show, as the city and province race against time to salvage this year’s holiday season.
Tests conducted by independent water testing outfit Talbot paint a disturbing picture for holidaymakers and tourist operators. They show alarmingly high levels of E. coli, which experts warn could make people sick. Two popular beaches that had critically high readings are open for swimming.
At Umhlanga, where the beach remains closed, streams of human sewage flowed down its promenade this week.
The resort town — the crown in the province’s beachfront holiday portfolio — is losing R10m a day due to the closure, according to Umhlanga Tourism Association chair Duncan Heafield.
“We are expecting in the peak season from November 28 onwards a loss of R25m a day,” he said.
All indications are that tourists will stay away from Durban, with accommodation businesses saying bookings are slow.
The city has been accused of not being open with the public over test results.
The eThekwini municipality is scrambling to fix its damaged water infrastructure amid assurances this week 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.
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.
We are expecting into the peak season from November 28 onwards a loss of R25m a day
— Umhlanga Tourism Association chair Duncan Heafield
A report dated October 25 by the city’s water and sanitation unit shows that R839m is needed for repairs but there is a shortfall of R479m.
Experts say the municipality will be hard pressed to find the money to fix the infrastructure in two weeks and guarantee safe swimming.
The Sunday Times commissioned Talbot, an accredited independent testing company, to analyse E. coli levels at six beaches in eThekwini and further down the coast.
The tests, repeated over three days, revealed that Toti Main and Durban Country Club — declared safe for swimming by the municipality — showed critical levels of over 500 cfu/100ml. Colony forming units (cfu) are the microbial cells (bacteria, fungi or viruses) in a sample.
Talbot, a South African National Accreditation System consultancy, publishes the results of weekly testing of rivers and beaches on its Facebook page as a service to the public.
eThekwini municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the city would not comment on the findings “as we were not involved on the sampling, transportation, analysis and the reporting of results”.
Mayisela said the city closes beaches when the levels of E. coli are critical — which is 500cfu/100ml or more.
He said tests were conducted by the city’s water and sanitation laboratory scientists. Beaches were usually monitored twice a month, but this had increased to once a week.
Mayisela said the city was “optimistic that even more beaches will be open” in coming weeks, particularly the popular Umhlanga beach, which has been closed for two months.
“Work is at an advanced stage at the Ohlange sewage pump station, which is the station that impacted northern beaches. Work is also under way at the Northern Wastewater Treatment Works which is the facility that was impacting central beaches.”
On Thursday the Umhlanga promenade, which borders the Oyster Box and Beverly Hills hotels, was flooded with raw sewage and an overpowering stench.
Hotels along Durban’s beachfront and in Umhlanga say bookings are lagging in the run-up to the festive season.
Roberto Rosa, general manager of the five-star Oyster Box, said bookings had been slow for December.
“We haven’t had any big cancellations, but people are not booking. They’re making enquiries but not booking.
“The questions they ask when they call are first about the beaches and second about the tap water quality.
“The water and beach situation are big factors in the slow uptake of bookings.
“Normally at Christmas time we would be pretty full. That’s not the case right now.”
Marius Earle, general manager of the Radisson Blu in Umhlanga, said bookings had been steady and he was confident numbers would increase.
He believed potential visitors were waiting to see whether the water quality improved before finalising their plans.
“We are greatly concerned about the Umhlanga [and other north coast] beach closures due to poor water quality. The reservations team has fielded numerous queries regarding the beach closures/water quality from potential guests ... but at this point the hotel cannot confirm what the beaches’ and associated areas’ status will be for the immediate future.
“As a result, quite possibly potential guests are now seeking alternative accommodation.”
Earle said it was “extremely disappointing and disheartening to be in this situation”.
As a result, quite possibly potential guests are now seeking alternative accommodation
— Marius Earle, general manager of the Radisson Blu
Brandon Castleman, general manager of Gooderson Tropicana on the Durban beachfront, said he hoped occupancy levels in December would be as high as before the pandemic.
But, “if beaches do not reopen entirely or close again entirely it will have a severe impact on all hotels and certainly be a contributing factor to a wave of mass cancellations.
“We rely entirely on domestic travellers in peak season, the biggest attractions being beaches and public bathing pools located on the Golden Mile, which are notably still empty and appearing extremely run down.
“The lack of consistency, communication and clarity about water test results from eThekwini municipality is also of concern as well as the logic behind which beaches are opened and closed,” said Castleman.
In neighbouring Umdloti, where the beach is closed, some accommodation businesses are fully booked for December but fear last minute cancellations.
Eight Durban beaches remain shut. But some open beaches, such as Battery, are showing high E. coli levels, prompting many to question the validity of the city’s test results.
Talbot conducted tests for the Sunday Time from samples extracted at five beaches which fall under the eThekwini municipality — Westbrook, Point Beach, Country Club, Umhlanga and Amanzimtoti.
Margate Beach on the south coast, which falls under the Ray Nkonyeni municipality, also came under scrutiny by Talbot.
Testing was conducted from samples taken at open and closed beaches from Wednesday to Friday last week.
In September the city kept 13 beaches open despite critical warnings from Talbot. Three days later the city announced the immediate closure of beaches due to poor water quality. This coincided with scores of dead fish washing up at the Isipingo lagoon, south of the city, and the Umgeni River, north of the city.
Prof Faizal Bux, director of the Institute for Water and Waste Water Technology at Durban University of Technology, said: “It is non-negotiable that any beach should remain closed if the counts exceed 500 counts/100 mL.
“Contact with contaminated water can cause gastrointestinal illness, skin, ear, respiratory, eye and wound infections.”
Symptoms include stomach cramps, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting and low-grade fever. Bux warned that the impact could be more serious in immune-compromised people.
Dr Mark Graham, specialist aquatic scientist and head of Groundtruth, said the results represent a snapshot of the situation which “can he highly variable”.
The whole coast from Umdloti to Amanzimtoti is a rain event away from being at unacceptable levels. The media and city are playing a dangerous game saying that levels are acceptable to the public, when the cause persists
— Environmental activist Cameron Service
While the situation could clear within a couple of weeks if the pollution stopped immediately, he would “expect a lag of a fortnight or so to see a good recovery, a month to be safe”.
Cameron Service, an environmental activist and head of The Litterboom Project, said the beaches would be unsafe until the infrastructure was fixed.
“What is imperative is that people do not follow the E. coli test count of the municipality, since these have been way off every time. I have seen lots of businesses promoting swimming and beach usage even though it isn’t safe to do so. This must stop.
“The whole coast from Umdloti to Amanzimtoti is a rain event away from being at unacceptable levels. The media and city are playing a dangerous game saying that levels are acceptable to the public, when the cause persists.”
On Wednesday, ActionSA took legal action in the Durban high court against the municipality, provincial authorities and cabinet ministers, including corporate governance & traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, water & sanitation minister Senzo Mchunu, tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu and environmental affairs minister Barbara Creecy, for “failing to maintain and renew sewer infrastructure in and around the metro”.
It asked the court to order them to make available a list of wastewater pump stations, treatment plants and other water reticulation systems that are not operational, vandalised or in a state of disrepair.
It also asked the court to order the appointment of an accredited independent water sanitation expert to report daily readings of E. coli levels at all eThekwini beaches, and post the readings on signs at the beaches.
The matter is expected to go before court in February.
Durban Chamber of Commerce president Prasheen Maharaj said the city’s failure “to remedy the negative impact will prove detrimental to hotel bookings and lead to severe economic losses”.
“The ongoing closure of Durban’s beaches creates a poor perception of its ability to manage its tourism infrastructure.”
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