One of Ballito’s prime beaches, Willard Beach, has lost its Blue Flag status for the upcoming summer season.
This leaves KwaDukuza with only two beaches with Blue Flag certification for the 2024-2025 season – Blythedale Beach and Thompson’s Bay – which retain their status as the two most environmentally safe, clean and accessible beaches on the North Coast.
Willard Beach had its status revoked by the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (Wessa) because of low quality sea water.
Wessa’s Blue Flag programme sets 33 rigorous environmental, educational, safety and accessibility criteria for coastal destinations across the country.
Water safety and sea water quality are the principal requirements for attaining Blue Flag status. Willard’s failure to meet all the organisation’s criteria is attributed to excessive loadshedding that led to sewage leaks into the stormwater drains and river systems that flow into the sea.
“Unfortunately, Willard Beach failed to qualify due to too many of its sea water quality samples failing to meet the Blue Flag criteria,” said Wessa spokesperson, Morgan Griffiths.
“With loadshedding now having stopped, we expect Willard will enjoy much cleaner and safer water conditions going forward.”
Willard did, however, receive pilot Bue Flag Beach status for this season, meaning it is perfectly safe for swimming.
Recent E. coli testing samples taken by Siza Water and Ballito UIP show acceptable water quality levels. Willard Beach, one of the most popular in Ballito, has a year to take at least 20 water quality samples from this month to October 31 next year for re-evaluation.
The North Coast relies heavily on tourism, and like all seaside towns and holiday destinations, Ballito relies on its clean beaches as the main attraction. According to an Urban-Econ Development Economist report commissioned by Enterprise iLembe last year, tourism is worth R6-billion to the North Coast economy.
Beach tourism and related activities account for 59% of the reasons people visit the region, underscoring the importance of clean and safe sea water.
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