In recent weeks, several far south beaches, including Kalk Bay, Muizenberg, and Fish Hoek, have been closed to the public due to sewage pollution.
The most recent closure was the beach section between the tidal pools in Kalk Bay and Dalebrook, including the tidal pools, which was announced on Sunday January 8. The City said it was due to a sewer overflow and the cause of that was still being investigated.
The tidal pools were re-opened on Monday January 9 after water samples for the pools met the national water quality guidelines, but the beach section between the pools remains closed.
Fish Hoek Beach between the lifeguard station and Jager’s Walk was closed on Monday January 2, and reopened on Wednesday January 4 due to a sewage overflow caused by a pipe blockage.
“Items such as plastics and materials were removed from the sewer pipe, and the public was reminded to not dump illegally and rather dispose of their waste using available solid-waste services or take recyclables to the City’s drop-off facilities,” the City said in a statement.
Fish Hoek Valley Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association chairman Brian Youngblood told the Echo that the cause in both of the very recent cases was inappropriate material being flushed down the toilet and that residents needed to be educated to separate flushable items from solid wastes for rubbish collection.
“This section of Main Road is dependent upon gravity flow to the nearest pumping station, any sewage blockage overflows onto Main Road, then down a stormwater gulley to our beach.”
He added: “We think that the stormwater reticulation system needs to be redesigned with collection nets and to recharge the aquifer through biofiltering and possible use of bacteriophages, also known as phages, that are used to treat bacterial infections.”
According to Ray Haakonsen, a local tour guide, the beach closures have hurt the tourism industry, especially during the holiday season.
“This experience with the beach closures has been very disappointing as I had been building up Fish Hoek Beach as a premier place for a family beach experience in Cape Town,” he said.
Mr Haakonsen said he had dropped a family of five from Latvia off at the beach with an umbrella and beach chairs only to read later on Facebook that the beach had again been closed due to a sewage spill.
“From a tourism point of view, this kind of stuff is not good at all. The fact this happened even with little load shedding tells me there is more of a problem than the authorities are letting on.
“As a resident here and seeing the gradual decline of our town, it does concern me, and it may be the cause for me taking guests interested in going to the beach to others, which would be a great pity.”
Fish Hoek Lifesaving Club chairman Grant Edwards said they were back in the water following the reopening of the beach.
“As a club, we abide by any rulings the city council makes in terms of beach closures due to water-quality issues. To date, we have had no reports of illness and or side effects regarding water-quality issues at the beach.”
