Are E. coli levels safe at Durban beaches?

While the Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology said last week that five of Durban’s beaches have high Escherichia coli (E. coli) levels in the water, the municipality has refuted these claims, stating that the levels are safe.

According to an article published by Berea Mail yesterday, the Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology (IWWT) at the Durban University of Technology conducted water-quality tests at some of Durban’s popular beaches on September 21.

In a statement issued by IWWT on September 22, it said that the results from the six beaches were ‘alarming, with one beach (Glenashley) showing poor levels of E. coli in the water that was sampled’. The other five beaches were even more concerning, said Prof Faizal Bux, the director of IWWT.

He confirmed that five beaches, namely Addington, Bay of Plenty, Virginia, Umhlanga and Laguna had critical levels of E. coli in the water.

“The situation at these five beaches is much more serious, with the water quality being rated as ‘critical’… The advice from the scientists at the IWWT is that these beaches should not be used for recreational purposes until the E. coli levels drop to acceptable standards,” he said.

The IWWT’s results were as follows:

Glenashley Beach: 288

Laguna Beach: 8 664

Umhlanga Beach: 537

Bay of Plenty Beach, Durban Promenade: 644

Virginia Beach: 14 136

Addington Beach: 551

According to the IWWT’s water quality interpretation chart, E. coli per 100ml should be between 0 to 130 (ideal), from 130 to 200 (acceptable), from 200 to 400 (poor range), and 400 plus (critical).

Beaches are safe, says eThekwini

In response, the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, which includes Durban and surrounding towns, said that its beaches are safe for bathing ahead of the school holidays.

As reported by The Witness yesterday, the municipality’s spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana, said according to its latest beach quality test results, 20 of its 23 bathing beaches are open. While the municipality has more than 40 beaches, only 23 are bathing beaches, she explained.

“Therefore, there is absolutely no sewage crisis affecting Durban beaches and we encourage visitors to enjoy themselves in our city and visit our various tourism amenities.”

She said the beach water quality results are made public on the website, as and when results are updated.

“We conduct weekly testing. Over and above that, our bathing beaches have boards which indicate the water quality of that beach,” she said.

She added that she could not comment on lab results from other sources.

“Water quality testing is a scientific process and the municipality has nothing to hide… The reason we will not be responding to other lab results is because we don’t know the date, time, and location the samples were taken; how the samples were taken; how they were transported; how they were preserved before analysis; and what method of analysis was used.

“It’s always best to do split samples when you want to do comparisons so that you compare apples with apples,” she said.