Ezasegagasini Page 1 - eThekwini Municipality

METRO
Friday
25 July 2008
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e z a s e g a g a s i n i
RUDIMENTALS TO
ROCK UPRISING
FESTIVAL
MKHIZE TO
HEAD SAFETY
CLUSTER
Diary Page 6
News Page 4
Beach
quality
tackled
ONE
NATION
SUCCESS
News Page 6
A Reel Good Time
New signboards to re-assure
public on the state of our shores
KEN MCHUNU
B
OARDS are due to
go up at each of
eThekwini’s
36
beaches, providing
bathers with a
weekly update on the state of
seawater.
Neil Macleod, Head of
eThekwini Water and Sanitation, which is responsible
for the project, said the
boards would provide information on water quality and
cleanliness.
“These also show the facilities which are available, the
latest water quality test results
and a litter index to indicate
the cleanliness of each
beach,” Macleod said.
Officials are aiming to address residents’ concerns over
seawater quality. The matter
was recently brought to the
fore by a disagreement between the Municipality and
the accreditation agency
which runs the Blue Flag
beach scheme.
Macleod said the “impracticality and high cost” of the
method the City had been
using to detect microorganisms that pollute the
seawater had prompted the
department to come up with
a new method.
“Indicators that use harmless bacteria are now being
used. Provided the indicators
used are similar to bacteria
and exist in proportionate
numbers to the level of
pathogens in any sample of
water, they can be used to
determine the level of
pollution.
“Among these are the E Coli
and the Enterococcus, which
have been described by the
World Health Organisation as
harmless organisms,” he said.
Recent test results of eThekwini’s seawater continued to
show compliance with the
Department of Water Affairs
and Forestry’s quality standards, said Macleod.
“The only time a change
was experienced was after
significant storm events at
beaches, which are close to
rivers and storm water
drains,” said Macleod.
However, construction and
repair works to install pumps
in the storm water outfalls
discharging onto the central
beaches has since begun.
“We remain on programme
to commission these installations before the December
holidays,” said Macleod.
He said the City would
continue using the E Coli and
Enterococcus
indicators
“until a more acceptable
indicator has been found”.
The Scientific Services Library, which has tested eThekwini’s seawater for the past 40
years, would continue its
service.
“They are accredited by the
South African National Accreditation System, and have
also worked with the Blue
Flag organisation to assess
the water quality of our
bathing waters,” said Macleod, stressing the dependability of their test results.
“The Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research
would continue to audit all
results by conducting independent seawater sampling
and testing to confirm the
results of the City’s Scientific
Services Laboratory,” he said.
The weekly updating of
information on the new signboards would let beach users
make their own choices after
seeing the results first-hand,
said Macleod.
These results would also be
available on the eThekwini
website, under the link:
http://www.durban.gov.za/du
rban/services/services/water_
and_sanitation/waterquality/beaches .
[email protected]
SOAPIE star Rapulana Seiphemo, of Muvhango fame,
takes to the big screen in Jerusalema, which was due
to make its African premiere at the opening of the
Durban International Film Festival this week.
The gritty gangster film, set on the streets of
Johannesburg’s Hillbrow, is just one of the films on the
line-up of more than 200 films at this years festival,
which runs at 26 venues across the city until 3
August. The festival, now in its 29th year, has brought
together the work of film-makers from 95 countries –
from established masters of cinema to innovative new
talents. Alongside the presentation of some of the
year’s finest films, the festival will run an extensive
workshop and seminar programme, giving the region’s
aspirant film-makers an opportunity to learn from and
be inspired by some of cinema’s greats.
There’s also feature films, documentaries and short
films that should entertain, enlighten and inspire.
Festival Director Peter Rorvik explains: “The festival
opens a window on the world, provides access to
different cultures and provides a space in which the
cinematic art form transcends national boundaries.
The recent tragic events in South Africa give cause to
highlight what has long been a central idea of the
festival: to create understanding and acceptance of
different cultures through the medium of film.”
Big effort to restore power
METRO REPORTER
EMERGENCY teams from the
Electricity Department were
working around the clock
earlier this week to restore
power to Prospecton, Isipingo and surrounding areas.
And at the time of going to
press, officials said they were
hoping to end the outage by
late Wednesday.
Thousands were left without electricity after an
electricity pylon in Isipingo
collapsed. The outage forced
industries in south Durban,
including Toyota, to shut
down, costing millions of
rands in lost production.
It all started on Tuesday at
10.52am when a pylon,
carrying 132kV lines between
the Lotus Park and Isipingo
substations, fell on its side.
Mounting bolts on three
legs of the tower had been
removed, possibly by scrap
metal thieves, and the tower
broke off at its remaining
secured leg.
By early Wednesday the
tower had been repaired and
stabilised. The stringing of
the transmission lines was
expected to be completed by
today and power restored by
late on Wednesday evening,
officials said.
However, the temporary
repair on the existing tower
would only allow for a single
circuit operation, as the tower
cannot be repaired to its full
mechanical
strength,
necessary for its original
double circuit operation.
The temporary single circuit configuration would restore power to all customers,
but a secondary feed would
not be available in the event
of a major transmission line
fault, officials said.
Police have arrested two
people in connection with
the incident and they are
being held for questioning.
Municipal
investigators
were on the scene soon after
the collapse and are following
up on leads.
A department official, Tony
Dold, said: “We would like to
apologise to the businesses
and residents in the area. Any
inconvenience is regretted.
“We have workmen on the
scene and we will be working
round the clock to ensure
that power is restored,” he
said.