The eThekwini municipality has reopened several beaches along the coastline after E.coli was detected earlier this year.
Spokesperson Musawenkosi Mayisela said the city acted on the advice of experts who said water levels had improved and were suitable for recreational activities.
“Beaches that are open for swimming include Point, Ushaka, Addington, South, Wedge, North, Bay of Plenty, battery, Country Club, Brighton, Reunion, Pipeline, Toti Main, and Warner,” he said.
In August Mayisela announced the ban on several beaches after they were found to have E.coli and were confirmed to be unsafe. He cautioned the participating in swimming and other water activities would lead to an unbreak of waterborne diseases.
The ban remains in place for Westbrook, Bronze, Laguna, Thekwini, Umhlanga, uMdloti, and uMgababa beaches.
Mayisela added that the were continued assessments of other beaches to ensure that the public is given the right information and also ensure public safety.
Adopt-a-River, an environmental non-profit organisation welcomed the announcement of the reopening of some of Durban’s beaches. The organisation welcomed the latest results that reflected a “clean sweep of clear beaches”.
Water consultancy Talbolt also observed the improvement in the quality of water in Durban beaches.
“Surprisingly, the beaches results are low this week after the rainfall, this may have been partly due to the tide and current when sampled on Thursday last week. Due to the continually high river results, please be cautious if swimming in the sea. The results are anticipated to be still high and awaiting the results after this Thursday’s sampling to confirm more,” it said.
Meanwhile, political parties in the province (the Democratic Alliance and ActionSA) are preparing to take the municipality to court over the raw sewage that’s flowing into rivers and lack of maintenance on infrastructure.
Source: News24, The South African, image from Twitter: @durban_kzn