Dear Ed, Re: eThekwini - River and Seawater Quality - 26 Sep 2021

Dear Ed,

Re: eThekwini - River and Seawater Quality - 26 Sep 2021

Recently there have been water quality issues at some of eThekwini's rivers. The latest being the oHlanga River which flushes out into the Indian Ocean, at the northern end of Umhlanga.

The insurrection in mid-July was to blame for the destruction of numerous businesses, warehouses and the UPL disaster. Unfortunately chemicals spilled in to the oillanga River and badly polluted that lagoon.

Added to this is the amount of sewerage entering our stormwater drains, and then into our streams and rivers. All of this pollution ends up in our beautiful Indian Ocean. Many fingers are pointed at problems at our sewerage works, but my own experience of travelling around Ward 58 is that there are breaks and blockages in sewer lines - well before the sewerage gets to the pumpstations. Food processing plants and even restaurants contribute to fats that wash into the sewer lines in warm to hot water. When this water cools, the fats coagulate, and in time block the sewer lines. If the sewer pipes are not rodded regularly, the sewerage spills out and aims for the nearest storm water gully !

I'm afraid this all points to lack of maintenance and enforcement. Effectively, service delivery is compromised. The worst part is that our sea gets polluted, and becomes unsafe for visitors and residents alike. The E.Coli levels, from the sewer water, make it unsafe to bathe in the sea near river outlets. This compromises the city's Blue Flag beaches, which are such a useful marketing attraction for our tourism industry.

The municipality seems to be reacting to each crisis, rather than putting in place a comprehensive plan to prevent this happening so often.

The DA has repeatedly called for the employment of qualified personnel in all our service departments. The days of jobs for pals has long gone. The public aren't interested in who the city employs, they just want the best man/woman for the job.

As the DA eThekwini spokesperson on Blue Flags, I am concerned that these river spills of faecal matter will eventually wash up on our beaches.

In 2008 a previous city manager took us out of the Blue Flag beach accreditation system, possibly because he saw that his cadre deployment would show up the lack of capacity amongst municipal staff.

Fortunately we have a large number of beachgoers who immediately report problems, so the city is tipped off whenever something goes wrong. The trick is to prevent the spills from happening in the first place.

The DA urges all citizens to report any sewage spills to your local councillors and officials.