A recent report produced by water experts says some municipalities fail to notify residents when their water is contaminated. The report, known as the Project Blue report, says this poses significant health risks.
Project Blue revealed shocking discrepancies in Cape Town’s beach water quality, raising serious public health concerns and threatening the tourism industry.
However, the City of Cape Town says the Project Blue report falsely claims to have used SANAS-accredited laboratories to analyse coastal water quality data. Neither of the two laboratories used are in fact SANAS accredited for analysis of either E. coli or enterococci in seawater. The Project Blue report, acknowledged by the authors to be “very limited”, also does not contain any scientific references to back up its claims.
“Cape Town conducts South Africa’s most extensive water sampling for any coastal city, with popular beaches showing consistently high water quality over the festive season. Of 297 water samples at designated swimming areas across the City’s 30 most popular coastal recreational nodes, a full 100% were within recreational use thresholds over the festive season,” the City says in a recent statement.
A local environmentalist, Caroline Marx, said in a social media post over the past few months, the Diep River and Milnerton Lagoon have high E.coli counts, reaching over 24 million cfu/100ml in December 2024, with a foul smell in the area on many days.
Samples
According to the City, for the small number of samples published in the Project Blue report, two laboratories were used: one for seawater samples on the Atlantic, and a second for False Bay.
Eddie Andrews, the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayco member for spatial planning and environment, says it is of great concern that the Project Blue report – which incorrectly attributes SANAS accreditation to its results – is used to cast aspersions on water quality data from not one, but two laboratories that are in fact SANAS accredited for microbiological analyses of seawater samples.
“This is at best a major oversight by the three academics named in the Project Blue report, or at worst, a major misrepresentation of the facts with the intent to mislead the public. By comparison, far greater volumes of scientifically credible data have affirmed our city as a world-class coastal tourism destination. Results are published on the City’s online Summer Dashboard to inform the public about water quality patterns at their favourite beaches during the festive season.
“Because it takes a few days to analyse water samples, this data cannot give a real-time indication of water quality. However, trends over time do give an indication of risk levels for the public to make more informed decisions,” he says.
Andrews adds that the City has never claimed any coastal area to be risk-free.
“It has simply published water quality results that are shown to be excellent as aligned to National Water Quality Guidelines, which state excellent as a less than 2,8% risk, not as a zero risk,” he says.
Pollution
The City says a significant portion of Project Blue’s limited sampling was at known chronically polluted locations at the Soet River Mouth in Strand and Lagoon Beach in Milnerton, which are in fact closed for recreational use.
“Pollution at these locations is well-documented, with major infrastructural and societal efforts under way to address these.
“An alternative representation of the Project Blue data would be to note that of the four sites sampled on the False Bay coast, only the site closed to recreational use consistently exceeded guideline values, and at a second site, only a single sample date exceeded guideline values for each of enterococci and E. coli respectively. Two sites did not exceed guideline values on any of the dates sampled.”
The Project Blue report further finds that, out of seven water samples at two Blue Flag beaches between 26 November and 6 December, one sample was above-guideline thresholds for enterococci at Camps Bay, and two at Clifton 4th beach.
“Where specific pollution incidents are identified, the City responds swiftly to address the pollution source, install warning signage, and take water samples until results show it’s safe to swim again. This responsiveness and commitment to transparency is what sets Cape Town apart as a world-class tourism destination, enjoyed by record numbers of visitors and locals this past festive season.
“In general, after rainfall events and due to the flushing of the catchments, the water quality usually declines for short periods.
“This is a common phenomenon in urban areas around the world, but as it currently stands, Cape Town’s coastal water quality is of a very high standard at our popular beaches,” said Andrews.
The City is posting weekly water sample updates on its website for the duration of the festive season until the end of January for easy access and unprecedented transparency. The Summer Dashboard is available via https://bit.ly/4dHk18h
