The City would like to assure members of the public that the 13 beaches that were opened over the weekend remain open. They will remain open until results from eThekwini’s accredited laboratory indicate that a different decision needs to be taken. 

 

EThekwini continues to monitor water quality and so far the results from the beaches that are closed indicate that they should remain closed in the interests of public safety. This includes Umhlanga Beach which was impacted by a blockage at Macausland pump station. The blockage has since been removed but water quality is still not at acceptable levels. 

 

To enable the public to make informed decisions about our beaches the municipality will increase the frequency of testing at bathing beaches and will publicly share these results as expected. 

Some of the unease about water quality results can be traced back to inconsistent understanding of how sampling and testing works. For results to be comparable they need to have come from the same sample, given how dynamic sea conditions are. The handling of the sample, its transportation and storage can also affect the result.

  

As communicated earlier, eThekwini is hard at work to ensure that flood damage to infrastructure is repaired as speedily as possible to.

The municipality remains committed to public safety at its beaches and to transparency. We remain guided by results from our laboratory and we will react in line with those results. 

 

ENDS

For media enquires contact eThekwini Municipality Spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela on 060 9664220