{"id":5299,"date":"2025-12-20T00:18:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T00:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=5299"},"modified":"2025-12-20T00:18:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T00:18:53","slug":"what-latest-tests-say-about-beach-water-quality-in-cape-town-and-durban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=5299","title":{"rendered":"What latest tests say about beach water quality in Cape Town and Durban"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"textFreeArticle\">\n<p class=\"intro\">Cape Town and Durban are South Africa\u2019s most popular beach destinations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"intro\">Untreated sewage flowing into the ocean in both cities has led to beach closures in past years. In the most recent sample tests, unsafe levels of Enterococci (a primary indicator of faecal pollution) have been found at several beaches. But most beaches remain open.<\/p>\n<p class=\"intro\">Listen\/read:<br \/>Durban and Cape Town on beaches, water safety and holiday crowds<br \/>Cape Town\u2019s sewage treatment isn\u2019t coping: Scientists are worried<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1783224\" src=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/19_december_2025_beaches_v4-555x555.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/19_december_2025_beaches_v4-555x555.png 555w, https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/19_december_2025_beaches_v4-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/19_december_2025_beaches_v4-75x75.png 75w, https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/19_december_2025_beaches_v4-113x113.png 113w, https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/19_december_2025_beaches_v4-230x230.png 230w, https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/19_december_2025_beaches_v4-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/19_december_2025_beaches_v4-744x744.png 744w, https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/19_december_2025_beaches_v4-100x100.png 100w, https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/19_december_2025_beaches_v4.png 810w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\"\/><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"subheading\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Cape Town<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In Cape Town, water at all but one beach had safe levels of Enterococci in the most recent samples taken between the end of November and 3 December. Macassar Beach, which lies at the mouth of the polluted Eerste River, had unsafe levels.<\/p>\n<p>But the beach remains open. Daily Maverick reports City of Cape Town Mayco member for water and sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, as saying water quality has not been \u201cconsistently poor\u201d at Macassar beach.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>There are warning signs at beaches that have had poor water quality over the past 12 months. According to the Daily Maverick, these include: Lagoon Beach, Three Anchor Bay Beach, Barley Bay, Hout Bay Mariners Wharf, Hout Bay Chapmans Peak, Kalk Bay Harbour Beach, Sunrise Beach Parking Area, Ribbon Road Parking Area, Mnandi Beach, Monwabisi Beach, Macassar Beach and the Strand Pipe Surfing and Lifesaving Club areas.<\/p>\n<p>Read:<br \/>Unlocking the tourism potential in Nelson Mandela Bay<br \/>Despite \u2018Bays of Sewage\u2019 claim, Cape Town insists beach water quality is \u2018consistently high\u2019<br \/>R1bn amusement park planned for Durban\u2019s Golden Mile<\/p>\n<p>The City advises against swimming in the ocean within 12 to 24 hours after heavy rainfall.<\/p>\n<p>The most recent test results are available on the City\u2019s water quality dashboard.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"subheading\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Durban<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The reliability and transparency of eThekwini Municipality\u2019s coastal water quality have been questioned recently. News reports of unsafe water quality at 15 of Durban\u2019s beaches have been dismissed as fake news by the municipality.<\/p>\n<p>Lists published on the municipality\u2019s main website include only the most recent data on E. coli readings and not Enterococci, which the City of Cape Town uses and is seen as a more reliable indicator of sewage pollution than E. coli.<\/p>\n<p>All of Durban\u2019s beaches are safe based on the E. coli data, according to the municipality.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read:<br \/>Sewage contaminates popular lagoons on KwaZulu-Natal\u2019s South Coast<br \/>Call for government to save Durban\u2019s contaminated rivers<br \/>Carlswald residents at breaking point after decades of sewer failures<\/p>\n<p>But another website on the municipality\u2019s domain, which has the most recent Enterococci readings taken between the end of November and 11 December, shows a different picture. Four beaches had unsafe levels of Enterococci. One had fair, and five had very safe levels.<\/p>\n<p>Average data on Durban\u2019s beach water quality over the past 12 months is not available.<\/p>\n<p>The municipality last week closed two beaches \u2014 Bronze Beach and Umhlanga Main Beach \u2014 as a precautionary measure after a sewage pump station failed.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 2025 GroundUp. This article was first published here.<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Moneyweb\u2019s in-depth finance and business news on WhatsApp here.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\">\n            !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n            {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n                n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n                if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n                n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n                t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n                s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n                'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n            fbq('init', '779812924991616');\n            fbq('track', 'PageView');\n        <\/script>#latest #tests #beach #water #quality #Cape #Town #Durban<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cape Town and Durban are South&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[3571,2865,2845,683,3627,4908,3000,2041],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}