This despite the eThekwini Municipality citing 22 of its bathing beaches are now open and safe for swimming. The beaches tested for high E.coli levels are Addington, Bay of Plenty, Virginia, Umhlanga and Laguna.
The institute says the samples collected on the 21st of September from the beaches had alarming levels of E.coli compared to December last year. Dr Luveshan Ramanna, who conducts monthly samples at the institute, says the contamination is coming from Umgeni River. “We found that there was high E.coli counts in this area, behind me, Laguna Beach and north going towards Umhlanga beaches and we found that the contamination is coming from Umgeni River, polluting all these beaches and due to the current and the sea action it is taking these E.coli that way.”