Durban beaches have been closed and some businesses have been affected following the sewage spillage that is flowing into the port.
It has affected the harbour, the local yacht club, Wilson’s Wharf and the Durban Point area.
Yacht Owner David Miles says one of the businesses has been closed for almost three weeks.
“It’s affected especially the Anchorage restaurant where they’ve had to close because of the E coli in the air. All our sports have been cancelled because if we launch the Dingies, the training that is done from Point Yatch club of children all that’s been cancelled because if they go and launch their little Dingies into the water they’re in the poo, poo is all around them and if they capsize they’ll be taking in the water and it’s not just water but sewage.”
Engineers at the eThekwini Municipality say temporary measures will be put in place until they are able to find a permanent solution to the malfunctioning sewer pump station.
Consultant at eThekwini water and sanitation, Dave Wilson says, “We’ve had some minor problems with our racks that come into the pump station which has allowed foreign objects to come into the pump station and starts the pumps vibrating and they break down. Unfortunately, we’ve had four pumps that have gone down the problem with these pumps is that they are overseas pumps and we have all the spares sent from overseas and that is the problem. What we have managed to do now is that we’ve got locally manufactured spares for one pump we have two standby pumps in this substation and we have two operating pumps.”
Residents are assured that tap water is very safe to drink and are requested to disregard hoax messages that are circulating on social media to the contrary.
— eThekwini Muni (@eThekwiniM) May 6, 2019
Thanks for the timeous by @eThekwiniM water and sanitation crew…it took them less than an hour…the guys are busy with the repairs pic.twitter.com/eUkpiI0st1
— Masiya (@Syabonga_Langa) May 4, 2019
