Cape Town’s Zandvlei Estuary, specifically the area opposite the Imperial Yacht Club, has been closed to all recreational water sports. This follows consecutive E. coli readings exceeding the threshold for intermediate contact recreation.
Cape Town’s Zandvlei Estuary, specifically the area opposite the Imperial Yacht Club, has been closed to all recreational water sports. This follows consecutive E. coli readings exceeding the threshold for intermediate contact recreation.
A significant portion of Zandvlei, Cape Town’s only functioning estuary in False Bay, has this week been closed to all recreational water activities by the City of Cape Town as the authority of the Zandvlei Nature Reserve.
This temporary closure comes after consecutive water quality readings revealed E. coli levels exceeding 4,000 CFU/100ml, surpassing the threshold for intermediate contact recreation.
While the exact source of the contamination remains under investigation, observations from various stakeholders and the City of Cape Town indicate that compromised inflows from the Sand River canal are a major contributing factor.
Officials are still conducting water quality monitoring and will continue in the coming weeks. They said the affected section would be reopened once results consistently returned to acceptable levels.
The closure, according to various stakeholders, reveals a deepening environmental crisis facing Zandvlei and its broader catchment.
The recurring issue of elevated E. coli levels, particularly during winter with rainfall flushing pollutants, has been described as a systemic problem across water bodies that stakeholders…
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