{"id":58310,"date":"2023-12-19T15:54:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T15:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/beach-water-testing-shows-transparency-say-ethekwini-officials"},"modified":"2023-12-19T16:47:14","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T16:47:14","slug":"beach-water-testing-shows-transparency-say-ethekwini-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/beach-water-testing-shows-transparency-say-ethekwini-officials","title":{"rendered":"Beach water testing shows transparency, say eThekwini officials"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>eThekwini municipality’s weekly testing is more frequent than any other city and allows for quick detection of unsafe beaches to make quick interventions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis city is probably the only one that tests so often, the frequency is almost two times that of others. Other cities test once per fortnight. So if they\u2019ve tested on the 20th, then the next test will be in January. So whatever happens in between, no one else will be able to pick up,\u201d said city manager Musa Mbhele.The state of Durban beaches has fluctuated since the April 2022 floods, with many instances of closures and reopening owing to high levels of E coli bacteria caused by waste and other unwanted material being washed into the ocean.<\/p>\n

That necessitated the municipality to do constant water quality testing and publish the results for the public to ascertain which beaches are safe for swimming.<\/p>\n

eThekwini has continued its weekly water quality tests, which it now conducts along with independent water sampling company Talbot and the Durban University of Technology.Mbhele said they\u2019ve invested a lot in repairing wastewater treatment plants, pumps and other infrastructure across the city, which has resulted in marked improvement in the state of the beaches compared to the same time last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a really painful but necessary process. We want to do the real McCoy because we know that over time we will deal with that problem permanently.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is for that reason Mbhele feels beachgoers are safer in the city. He said the municipality hides nothing concerning the safety of beaches and is not afraid to shut them until they have the green light to open.<\/p>\n

Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said they would continue the weekly joint sampling and publishing of the results to keep the public abreast of the water quality results.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe monitoring and routine weekly testing across all the city\u2019s 23 bathing beaches continues and if there are any challenges with water quality, we don\u2019t hesitate to close affected beaches because the safety of the public is of paramount importance to us. The closed beaches are re-opened once testing proves acceptable water quality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pride ourselves, as a city, that even if it happens that eThekwini was to remain with only 15 beaches cleared by the result, we would still be leading other cities in terms of the number of beaches that we have. Other cities are big but only have few beaches.\u201dThree beaches \u2014 Pipeline, Winklespruit and Anstey\u2019s \u2014 were closed during the December 16 long weekend.<\/p>\n

The city said Ohlange estuary mouth, Umhlanga lagoon and the adjoining beach remain closed since July 2021, after being contaminated by a chemical spill from the UPL warehouse. The city emphasised on Monday, however, that only 1km of the beach on either side of the lagoon is closed, not the entire beach.<\/p>\n

Kaunda reopened the Whalebone Pier in Umhlanga on Thursday, which had been closed for three months for renovations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main aim of this R3.2m project was to extend the longevity of the concrete. The pier is a tourist drawcard and remains one of the most photographed places in Durban,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also announced that 34 swimming pools were operational in the city and that the Children\u2019s Amusement Centre swimming pool on Durban beachfront will be re-opened this week.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. eThekwini municipality’s weekly testing is more frequent than any other city and allows for quick detection of unsafe beaches to make quick interventions. \u201cThis city is probably the only one that tests so often, the frequency is almost two times that of others. Other cities test once per fortnight. So if they\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":58309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-58310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nBeach water testing shows transparency, say eThekwini officials - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"eThekwini municipality's weekly testing is more frequent than any other city and allows for quick detection of unsafe be ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/beach-water-testing-shows-transparency-say-ethekwini-officials\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beach water testing shows transparency, say eThekwini officials\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"eThekwini municipality's weekly testing is more frequent than any other city and allows for quick detection of unsafe be ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/beach-water-testing-shows-transparency-say-ethekwini-officials\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-19T15:54:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-19T16:47:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/12\/sm_1702991725.435433.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/beach-water-testing-shows-transparency-say-ethekwini-officials#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/beach-water-testing-shows-transparency-say-ethekwini-officials\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Beach water testing shows transparency, say eThekwini officials\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-19T15:54:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-19T16:47:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/beach-water-testing-shows-transparency-say-ethekwini-officials\"},\"wordCount\":574,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/beach-water-testing-shows-transparency-say-ethekwini-officials#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/12\/sm_1702991725.435433.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/beach-water-testing-shows-transparency-say-ethekwini-officials#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/beach-water-testing-shows-transparency-say-ethekwini-officials\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/beach-water-testing-shows-transparency-say-ethekwini-officials\",\"name\":\"Beach water testing shows transparency, say eThekwini officials - 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