EThekwini Municipality announces reopening of three Durban beaches after new water quality tests
Battery Beach are among three beaches that have been reopened by the eThekwini Municipality. The beaches were closed on Thursday due to high E.coli readings.
Image: File: Independent Newspapers Archives
The eThekwini Municipality has announced that three of the four Durban beaches that were closed due to pollution being detected, have been reopened.
All four beaches were closed on Thursday due to high E.coli readings, according to the City's beach water quality report.
The municipality said in a statement on Saturday that the EThekwini Beach, Country Club Beach and Battery Beach have now been reopened after further water quality testing. It did not indicate what the test results showed and the Beach status report on municipal website has not been updated since the closures.
The City added that Blue Lagoon Beach remains closed.
The municipality said on Saturday that 22 bathing beaches that are open, are monitored by lifeguards, Metro Police officers and South African Police Service members to ensure a safe and enjoyable festive season.
The announcement comes after a ruling last week in the Pietermaritzburg High Court in which the municipality was placed on terms by the court to deal with the sewage spill issues plaguing the beaches and other water bodies.
In terms of the court ruling, the City has been instructed to, among others, urgently implement an action plan to conduct repairs and maintenance to sewer infrastructure and report to the court on the progress made.
In response to the ruling, the municipality said that many of the measures stipulated by the court were already being implemented and that it had seen significant improvement in the performance of its wastewater treatment works across different regions.