Durban beaches are clear of high levels of E coli pollution and open for swimming as the city braces for a bumper festive season. (Photo by Frédéric Soltan/Corbis via Getty Images)
Durban surfers, conservationists, activists and business people are joining forces to raise awareness about the quality of the province’s water sources, from the rivers in the Drakensberg to the Indian Ocean.
This was the unanimous agreement at a meeting hosted on Thursday by WaterCAN, an affiliate of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), which is distributing water testing kits to citizen science activists. They are determined to provide the evidence and assistance to force the government to fix the high levels of contaminants in the country’s water sources.
WaterCAN representative Ferrial Adam said the organisation was on a national drive to mobilise citizens to place pressure on government at municipal level to face the reality of deteriorating water resources.
She said WaterCAN had already opened criminal charges against officials in the City of Johannesburg over the high levels of E coli (a count of 101 000 colony forming units per 100 millilitres — CFU/100ml) found in the Klip River.
“It is a nice way if you don’t have access to lawyers, to get your campaign going because when you open a case it then becomes the responsibility of the state and Green Scorpions to investigate so you don’t need to have lawyers to challenge it,” Adam said.
She said the organisation was providing citizens with kits to test for coliforms (bacteria) and chemical contaminants.
“We use the testing kits and collaborate and advise people on the way forward. We want communities to take the struggles forward,” she said.
South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) chairperson Desmon D’Sa said people should pledge to work together to tackle the water crisis.
“Over the past few years water has been critical — it is at a crossroads — and unless the citizens stand up we will find the situation worse than ever before. The government is failing and continues to fail because there is no voice,” he said.
He said the SDCEA had already taken water samples for testing to the water management firm, Talbot & Talbot, which publishes results on its website.
“The facts are there — the water is contaminated, there are not only high levels of E coli from sewage but more and more chemicals are being dumped into the rivers and contaminating the water. We are finding it all along the coastline. The government doesn’t want to listen, it doesn’t want to talk to us,” he said.
He alleged that the government’s water test results were “being doctored” and there were inexperienced people working in municipalities who did not know how to manage sewage systems.
“They are not coming out with the truth. Water is a major issue. It will get worse, there is a groundswell of people along the Cape and KZN coast saying ‘no to destroying our coast’, “ D’Sa added.
Saul Baskin, who represents bodyboarders, said it had emerged during an Umhlanga ratepayers meeting on Wednesday that there had been 223 days of beach closures from Treasure Beach to Umhlanga over the past year. And there had been closures of about 200 days a year over the past three years, because of Covid-19 lockdowns and water contamination.
“The closures affect sports, training, surf shops and communities. It is an absolute disgrace what is happening. When [the city is] pushed for answers they are looking at test results from two weeks ago,” he said.
The KwaZulu-Natal Surfriders Association representative, Roland Suttie, said his organisation had a “family following of surfers” who are “all invested” in ensuring water quality. He said he had personally been affected by the water contamination.
“I have two daughters who surf. My middle child got extremely ill swimming off this beach [Vetch’s Pier] in 2020. She had Hepatitis A, Epstein Barr virus — she had seven viruses in her body. The paediatrician said he had never seen so many viruses in one child’s body,” he said.
He said he surfed every day but there were days he did not want his children to surf because of water quality concerns.
“I think a big reason people are moving out to Ballito is because of the quality of our beaches. I have lived overseas and travelled to over 30 countries in my life, there is no better place than this … Durban,” he said.
Businessman Jean-Marc Tostee, who owns a surf shop on the Golden Mile beachfront, said shops were closing because of water contamination and beach closures.
“This is our business, our life. We were affected by Covid closures and now it is water closures. Two businesses have closed down and a friend who rented out bicycles has closed his business down. I have got involved because of the impact on my business,” he said.
Outa representative Jonathan Erasmus said the beach symbolises the complexities the country is facing in the environment.
“When it’s clean and working people can use the beach and swim and the economy booms and we are able to function as a city, but when it is not clean it can’t and it is indicative of what is happening upstream,” Erasmus said.