Beaches risk losing blue flag status

The DA is concerned about the falling water quality of city rivers and is calling on the eThekwini Municipality to put comprehensive plans in place to prevent such cases from happening in future or risk losing their Blue Flag statuses.

A few months ago there were reports of the deaths of thousands of fish in South Durban following the contamination of the Isipingo River and Estuary as a result of factory discharges. Recent reports of a sewage spill in the oHlanga River which flushes out into the Indian Ocean at the northern end of uMhlanga are worrying and while the city is attending to the matter, proper mechanisms need to be enforced if the city wants to retain their Blue Flag statuses.

As the DA’s city spokesperson on Blue Flags, Geoff Pullan said he was concerned that these river spills of faecal matter would eventually wash up onto local beaches. “Presently we have four pilot Blue Flag beaches; two at uMdloti, one at uShaka and one at uMgababa. Providing that the services and quality of the beaches remains in good standing, these four beaches should progress to full Blue Flag status.

“Our next goal is to apply for more pilot Blue Flag beaches at uMhlanga Main, uMhlanga Bronze and Westbrook Beach. Unfortunately the recent sewage spill in the oHlanga River may result in the city’s failure to get Blue Flag accreditation for these two uMhlanga beaches.”

The DA has repeatedly called for qualified personnel in this department as there is a general lack of capacity in experts in this field in their staffing. “We will continue to re-iterate this call and also urge the public who make use of the city’s beaches and rivers to contact their local councillors and officials promptly should they encounter spills of any kind so they can be dealt with as soon as possible to prevent them from spreading,” added Pullan.