Westbrook Beach closed amid high levels of E.coli

Westbrook residents and beachgoers continue to be plagued by the safety concerns and horrendous smell of raw sewage spewing out to sea at the town’s once Blue Flag beach.

An ongoing problem since November 2021, sewage from the nearby Westbrook pump station still pools under the Westbrook Beach lifeguard tower before entering the ocean in a river of effluent.

Pump failures, theft and lack of proper maintenance has seemingly reared its head once again.

While no notices on conditions at the beach were published by eThekwini Municipality on any of its public platforms, a sign at the beach indicates that it had been closed since June 10 owing to high levels of E.coli.

A visit to the pump station and lifeguard tower on Tuesday revealed the issue remained unresolved, with security guards saying they could not remember when last the eThekwini Municipality had carried out maintenance at the site.

It speaks to residents’ impressions that they have become a forgotten outpost of the municipality, given the sewerage problem and lack of movement on the nearby M4 bridge.

New pumps were installed in February 2022 after previously being stolen, with subsequent failures blamed on last year’s floods.

But little appears to be done amid allegations that the municipality had diverted money from the ward’s water works budget to fund two new statues in the city.

eThekwini said that the municipality regularly posts beach status updates on their website, but it had not done so since June 4, nor did it respond to further queries.

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