The eThekwini municipality has closed two bathing beaches in Umhlanga as they investigate the source of unidentified “balls” suspected to be human waste.
A video circulating on social media on Tuesday showed the round objects at Umhlanga main beach.
The city said the person who recorded the video claimed the balls were dog faeces. One resident said in her caption of the video that the balls, which are grey, “smell like poop when opened”.
Ward 35 councillor Bradley Singh released a public notice on his Facebook page cautioning residents not to touch the objects “as it seems to be human faeces”.
“The department is aware of the situation and teams are going to investigate its origins and clear them from the shore,” Singh assured residents.
Municipal spokesperson Gugu Sisilana confirmed on Wednesday the city has closed the two beaches in the area — Umhlanga main beach and Bronze beach — as a precaution while teams from the city’s water and sanitation service unit and scientific services analyse the samples.
“We cannot confirm if the balls are human waste until after the laboratory investigation,” she said. “We caution media against reporting unverified information.
“The city has always been transparent about issues relating to beach water quality, hence an investigation is under way to trace the source of the 'balls' and get to the bottom of the matter.”
Meanwhile, the city is also conducting an “extensive investigation” to find the source of discharge of sewage effluent along the uMngeni estuary in the CBD.
“Once the investigation is complete, the city will undertake repairs to any damaged infrastructure that may have resulted in the discharge of untreated effluent into the uMngeni Estuary.”
The municipality has banned recreational and fishing activities from uMngeni estuary to the Blue Lagoon non-bathing beach, as per the directive from the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment in accordance with the coastal compliance notice.
Sisilana said the infrastructure failure was a result of constant theft and vandalism of the city’s sewer infrastructure and illegal connections to the sewer system. These, she said, are the main contributing factors to pollution and E coli, particularly in estuaries and beaches.
“The city is making every effort to attend to all infrastructural defects that may pose a risk to the environment and urges the public to report vandalism and the theft of infrastructure to police so that perpetrators are apprehended.
“Fishermen are urged to adhere to the fishing restriction at the uMngeni estuary and Blue Lagoon until further notice while the investigation is under way.”
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