As festive season tourists begin to flock to Durban for some sea, sun and fun, the eThekwini Municipality has announced the closure of a number of the city’s popular beaches.
WHY ARE THE BEACHES CLOSED
The City made the announcement after tests by independent laboratory Talbot revealed that some beaches have poor to critical levels of e.coli in its waters.
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The municipality isn’t however too fazed by the results as it attributes the high e.coli levels to the the recent rainfalls, which it says washes pollution from rivers, streams, and stormwater systems into the ocean.
“It is common to have poor water quality when heavy rains continue to batter the City. This results in pollution, including foreign objects, washing from rivers and streams as well as other water sources into the ocean” the City says in a statement.
WHERE CAN’T TOURISTS SWIM
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The six beaches have been closed from the public are:
- South Beach
- UShaka
- Point Beach
- North Beach
- Battery Beach and
- Country Club
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“The beaches with “poor” water quality have been closed while re-sampling and monitoring of the beaches continue.”
The City says it will continue monitoring the beach water routinely with tests conducted on a weekly basis.
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