Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has called on Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu to compel the eThekwini municipality to address high levels of E. coli in its rivers.
E. coli is a bacteria found amid sewage and animal waste contamination which can cause diarrhoea, stomach cramps, nausea, headaches or vomiting.
OUTA said the municipality claimed that its beaches were safe, but added that the rivers were urgently in need of attention. In partnership with the NGO Adopt-A-River, OUTA has conducted several tests on the water in the Umbilo River.
“E. coli tests undertaken by Talbot Laboratories revealed that the E. coli levels downstream from the Umbilo Wastewater Treatment Works (UWWTW), situated near Pinetown, were 10 times higher than upstream from the treatment works,” OUTA KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Jonathan Erasmus said.
“The upstream E. coli count was 5 810/100ml, while it measured at 61 310/100ml downstream from the treatment works. A water body is deemed critical and dangerous to human health if the E. coli level is in excess of 400/100ml,” he added.
Erasmus said the prime tourist area of Blue Lagoon along the Umngeni River had also been affected.
He said:
He added that it was a threat to the city’s beaches.
“Their proximity to the Umgeni River means that these popular swimming beaches’ E. coli readings could easily change for the worse, dependent on sea currents. Furthermore, the Umhlanga beaches continue to hover in the critical range area,” he explained.
Although the eThekwini municipality previously said it did not have the funds to meet all of its commitments, Erasmus said the City could do better.
“Earlier this month, the City squandered approximately R500 000 on a council meeting which the governing party deliberately collapsed due to its own internal political issues. This type of reckless spending is completely unwarranted, especially when we have wastewater treatment plants that are clearly not working and requiring urgent capital investment,” he said.
He added they believe that the national water and sanitation department can force the eThekwini municipality to resolve this issue before the impact on the local economy is worsened.
eThekwini municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said:
“The City is making huge strides in repairing the sanitation infrastructure that was damaged by floods. We are also moving with speed in replacing ageing infrastructure – a challenge faced by innumerable cities in the world,” Mayisela said in response to News24’s queries.
He told News24 the City had the capacity to address the issue, but did not say what was being done to address it.
Mayisela also did not give any timelines for the resolution of pollution in eThekwini’s waterways.
“We must be mindful of the magnitude of the damage inflicted by two consecutive floods last year that resulted in us re-prioritising our budget,” he added.
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