Water at Durban beaches to undergo weekly testing ahead of holiday season
eThekwini is clamping down on pollution to ensure that beaches are safe and ready for visitors this festive season.
The municipality briefed the media on Thursday on what it described as critical administrative issues.
The city assured residents and holidaymakers on Tuesday that all 23 beaches in Durban are open and safe for swimming.
However, Acting City Manager Sipho Cele says pollution remains an issue.
"There are people that, at times, connect and discharge onto our catchments and our streams. There is going to be improved and increased enforcement in that regard.
“And the colleagues in the sanitation environment, as well as the catchments management environment, are going to be undergoing community awareness programmes that educate communities about some of the matters that lead to the undesirable situation at the beaches.”
READ: Durban expected to welcome 1.3m visitors over festive season
Cele says the goal is to restore Durban's beaches to Blue Flag status - the international standard for clean and safe oceans.
Currently, eThekwini doesn't have Blue Flag beaches, as it withdrew from the programme following the April 2022 floods.
Mayor Cyril Xaba says officials will now conduct more frequent beach safety checks.
"We do test biweekly, but at EXCO we resolved that because we're now in the festive season, we'll test our waters weekly. Our results are also corroborated by an independent organisation that does the testing as well.”
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