Sewage war hots up
THE city was so aware that the sea off Durban’s beaches was polluted over the festive season that it twice postponed a municipal lifeguard event.
Levelling these accusations, the DA in eThekwini called on Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda to admit beaches were never safe for bathing over the festive season.
“During a Community Services Committee meeting it was revealed that the annual lifeguard endurance event was postponed due to poor water quality caused by high E coli levels,” councillor Gavin Hegter said in a press release yesterday.
“The race was then rescheduled to take place in January, but was again postponed for the same reason. It is extremely concerning that Mayor Kaunda invited locals and visitors to our beaches despite knowing full well that they were unsafe.
“Yet he allowed the same lifeguards to swim in contaminated waters, ignoring their safety and demanding they risk their lives alongside visitors.”
In a statement, the mayor’s office called the DA’s media release “reckless and opportunistic”.
“At no stage did Mayor Kaunda invite the public to swim at beaches that were not safe for bathing. He consistently directed visitors to beaches that were declared safe, which was confirmed by water quality results.
“The city continues to test water quality with independent laboratories and our results are comparable. Therefore, any suggestion that the municipality manipulates water quality tests is downright opportunistic and seeks to score cheap political points.”
The mayor’s statement said its water quality tests were published on all communication platforms, including “the list of beaches and swimming pools that are safe for bathing”.
“Currently, the municipality is working hard to fix sewer pump stations, wastewater treatment works, and sewer mains that were damaged during the floods last year.”
This week, two water activist groups demanded the national government intervene.
However, water infrastructure expert Anthony Turton said it was unlikely that would make a difference.
He noted that South Africa was showing signs of a failed state where the units that make up government, from municipalities to national departments, were “unable to interpret signals emerging from its operational environment and develop a strategy to avert disaster”.
WaterCAN, a water-focused initiative driven by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), and Adopt-aRiver, made the call after results from a private laboratory on samples taken on February 2 revealed dangerously high levels of E coli in Durban rivers.
They showed the E coli levels downstream from the Umbilo Wastewater Treatment Works (UWWTW), near Pinetown, were 10 times higher than upstream from the treatment works.
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 more than 400/100ml.
Samples submitted included those taken from the uMngeni and uMdloti rivers, Durban’s Golden Mile and uMhlanga beaches.
Near the prime tourist area of Blue Lagoon on the uMngeni River, the E coli count was 10 810 000/100ml, while the uMdloti River’s reading was 2 987/100ml.
“While the city’s central beaches were all declared safe by authorities, their proximity to the uMngeni River means 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,” said WaterCAN’s KwaZulu-Natal representative Jonathan Erasmus, adding that the results on their own were troubling.
“If we take a wider view of the critical state of the city’s river systems and in the context of eThekwini Municipality’s consistent failures to take the sewage crisis seriously, we are presented with an extremely worrying picture indicating that the city’s residents will be facing this problem for months, if not years, to come.”
Erasmus said it was clear that wastewater treatment plants were not working and required urgent capital investment.
Adopt-a-River’s Janet Simpkins added: “By shining the spotlight on the crisis with facts like test results, we hope to continue the pressure and together raise awareness to national government that intervention at infrastructure level is long overdue and critical.”
eThekwini Municipality said WaterCAN and Adopt-a-River’s call was based on “nothing but disinformation of the highest order”.
Spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the city had numerous initiatives that seek to keep its rivers and streams clean.
“These include even making those caught red-handed polluting to face the full might of the law. However, it cannot do it alone because all of us are responsible for producing litter and other hazardous substances that end up in our freshwater resources.” He also laid into the media. “The media industry too has some contribution to make in this regard as opposed to being spectators and preoccupied with maximising profits. Yes, there are a few media houses who take the initiative to educate and inform the public in this regard without expecting a cent. This act of good citizenship is immensely commended and encouraged.”
Mayisela stressed that the city, and the government in general, could not shoulder the blame alone.
“Its initiatives to nip this scourge in the bud must be appreciated. And all stakeholders including yourselves (the media), must begin to ask a question, ‘when are we going to be the change we wish to see?’”
Elaborating on his view of failed state symptoms, Turton likened the government to a multi-storey building, which rests on the ground floor.
“That ground floor is the municipalities. Municipalities are unable to respond, national departments are unable to regulate.”
“We are seeing an accumulation of failures and, at its heart, the inability of any organ of state to see the signals and take the remedial action required.”