Business and sporting ambassadors on Durban’s golden mile are appalled by the perennial E.coli contamination resulting in the on-off closure of six popular beaches in the city.
Durban’s top beaches remained closed on Monday due to unacceptably high levels of bacteria — a problem that has been worsened by vandalism at a sewerage pump station.
The recreational beaches — South, North, Bay of Plenty, Sun Coast, Country Club and uMngeni — have been closed since Friday. The area is one of KwaZulu-Natal’s hottest tourist spots and an important part of the province’s economy.
“The levels of bacteria have been compounded by the unceasing vandalism of one of the city’s sewerage pump stations and abnormal heavy rains that are unceasingly washing waste from multitudes of informal settlements along the Umgeni River to the river,” city spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said.
Surfing SA spokesperson Robin de Kock said the situation is disappointing. A few years ago, an international surfing competition was cancelled due to the high E.coli levels.
“It’s not unusual for beaches to experience spills from time to time. It happens even in Cape Town where pipes leading to the harbour break, but problems are fixed quickly,” he said.
De Kock said the regularity of such occurrences in Durban was a cause for concern and affected not only surfers but businesses and tourists as well. “I feel for the city officials. The change in the weather patterns and the wind directions compounds the problems.”
Beachfront shop owners are aghast. Brandon Read, who owns a surf shop and surf school, said: “We run a professional show here. We are the equivalent of an Airbnb experience for surfers and stand-up paddle boarders. When the beaches are closed it hurts us.”
Before Covid-19 “we were the go-to spot for European surfers and tourists. This E.coli is about raw sewage being dumped into the sea. We know that raw sewage is also being dumped into the Umgeni River,” he said, adding that something has to be done to address the problem. “Politics aside there has to be a pro-Durban approach. We love Durban and we do everything we can to promote it.”
Other businesses along the beach are also negatively affected when the crowds stay away, he said.
Business owners and beach goers said they are extremely sad the city has not been taking the situation seriously for a long time, leading to more deterioration.
Environmental activist Desmond D’sa said the E-coli and sewage spills point to poor maintenance of infrastructure on the part of the city. “We monitor the situation regularly and work with experienced laboratories and experts in the field. It is clear that the entire sewerage infrastructure across the city needs an overhaul. Maintenance has been lacking. It has to do with getting experienced and quality people to do the job”.
The city said everything is being done to fix the problems and indicated that further inspections have discovered a new cause of the high E.coli levels.
It cited the “high levels of rain the city has experienced over the last weeks, wherein a large amount of water hyacinth and silt came down the river, as well as the sewage that came down from the vandalised pump station, releasing E.coli into the waters.
“The water is being tested each day and as soon as the E.coli levels drop to below the acceptable national levels, the beaches will be reopened. The vandalised pump station is being repaired. Once the water levels are satisfactory, the beaches will reopen.”
Late last year there was mounting pressure from business, tourism and the public over a raw sewage spill into Durban harbour, which posed a threat to beaches along the popular golden mile coastline and prompted the eThekwini municipality to have all key pump stations exempt from load-shedding.
Port authorities, afraid of the health consequences, responded by banning diving and angling in the harbour.
Durban has earned its position as one of SA’s most popular year‑round tourist destinations for its expansive beaches and sunny climate. The city and province have suffered billions of rand of damage to business and tourism since the Covid-19 pandemic and the July 2021 unrest.
In June last year, the main pump station in the heart of the upmarket tourist and business hub at uMhlanga’s McCausland Crescent, north of the city, malfunctioned and led to a wastewater spillage.
During the 2021 July unrest looters set fire to a United Phosphorus-leased warehouse, causing agrochemicals and pesticides to spill into the Ohlanga River, uMhlanga Estuary and the sea. Generations of marine life were destroyed and the entire marine ecosystem severely damaged.
The beaches were closed after the chemical spill and reopened on November 2, but with a 1km exclusion zone that bans subsistence fishing and all recreational activities.
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