Durban — The eThekwini Municipality has joined forces with Adopt-a-River, a non-profit organisation, to jointly take beach water samples.
The municipality said it has begun weekly joint sampling of beach water with independent laboratories, to enable credible comparison of test results, in the interests of transparency and public safety.
It said that until recently, eThekwini Municipality and independent laboratories have not been sampling jointly, leading to different beach water results. This led to confusion among the public regarding the results.
The municipality said that on October 5, 2023, the municipality jointly sampled with Adopt-A-River, whose samples were tested by an independent laboratory, Talbot.
Joint sampling was done at Point Beach, uShaka, South Beach, North Beach, Battery Beach, Country Club, the river at Kingfisher Canoe Club, the river at Riverside and the river below the Northern Wastewater Treatment Works.
Water and Sanitation Unit head Ednick Msweli said joint sampling with Adopt-a-River will be done for the next few months.
“Our intention is to compare the results but also to educate the public about the processes of water testing because there’s often a misunderstanding when the public compares results by the City with those of independent organisations,” Msweli said.
“If the same sample has not been taken at the same place at the same time, it is inevitable that the results won’t be the same, hence the joint sampling. This is because environmental conditions change all the time, therefore results will fluctuate if they are taken on different occasions.”
Msweli explained that results have guidelines for compliance.
“For the quality of water to be regarded as compliant for recreational use such as bathing, E coli levels must be anything between 0 to 500, and anything above 500 is poor to critical. You may notice that the numbers that indicate the quality of water are not identical, however, these results are regarded as comparable because they are within the set guideline for excellent to poor,” Msweli said.
The municipality added that the City will also continue to do its regular testing at all beaches to ascertain water quality.
Adopt-a-River Eco Solutions director Janet Simpkins said they were approached by the City to conduct joint sampling.
“We are very happy to work with the City and together with Talbot laboratories to share information on the results,” Simpkins said.
“As we head into the festive season this joint sampling initiative will help provide clarity to the public and help track water quality over time. Working together allows greater transparency and also helps us fast-track any issue we may pick up.”
Last month, the Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology (IWWT) at the Durban University of Technology (DUT), conducted water quality tests at some of Durban’s popular beaches.
The institute’s results indicated that the six beaches under evaluation were alarming, with one beach, Glenashley, showing poor levels of E coli in the water that was sampled, and the other five beaches were even more concerning.
IWWT director Professor Faizal Bux confirmed that five beaches, Addington, Bay of Plenty, Virginia, uMhlanga and Laguna had critical levels of E coli in the water.
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