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Susan Taljaard |
Dr Steven Weerts |
South Africa is revising its recreational water quality guidelines for coastal marine waters and the Department of Environmental Affairs has commissioned the CSIR to assist in this process. The aim is to bring the management of beaches along the country's 3000-km coastline in line with international best practice while at the same time taking the country's unique geographic position and demographics into account.
According to CSIR researcher Susan Taljaard South Africa chose to follow an adaptive management approach: "In the study we considered international best practice and that will then be refined through learning in practice what works and what doesn't. For this reason the proposed guidelines are only interim and will be subjected to an intensive stakeholder consultation process and pilot testing over the next two to three years before being finalised," she explains.
Since 1995 (when the previous guidelines were drawn up) there have been substantial advances internationally in the field of microbiological water quality. For example, enteroccocci have replaced E. coli as the most appropriate microbiological indicator organisms for marine waters. South Africa's current guidelines still use E. coli. According to Taljaard, indicator organisms are typically used as a proxy to indicate the presence of disease-causing bacteria, viruses and protozoa in recreational waters, since the indicator organisms are more practical and affordable to monitor regularly: "The suitability of enteroccoci as indicator organism in temperate regions, as found along our west and south coasts, is well-documented. However, recent studies in sub-tropical areas seem to suggest that enteroccoci are able to grow in these warmer waters which affect their suitability as indicators. As a result we may need to consider different or additional indicators for the sub-tropical region along our east coast."
The proposed new guidelines also recognise that "single" target values for microbiological indicators to classify recreational waters as either "safe" or "unsafe" are no longer appropriate. Rather, applying target ranges linked to different risk levels is proposed, supporting the principle of informed personal choice and allowing authorities to set achievable improvement targets for high-risk areas. In other words, recreational waters may be classified from "fair" to "excellent", leaving the choice to the users. An important consideration of specific relevance to the South African situation will be the relatively large proportion of its population that is immuno-compromised, potentially making them more susceptible to infection.
At the same time the proposed guidelines will be aligned with international best practice such as the Blue Flag campaign and its water quality criteria, says CSIR senior researcher Dr Steven Weerts. The Blue Flag campaign started in the 1980s to encourage local authorities to provide clean and safe beaches for local populations and tourists. "South Africa was the first country outside Europe to have beaches awarded Blue Flag status, and the campaign is actively supported by the Department of Tourism and the Department of Environmental Affairs," he says.
However, water quality on South Arica's swimming beaches made headlines last year when four of Durban's prime beaches lost their international Blue Flag accreditation status. A beach can lose its Blue Flag status after just one season of non-compliance.
Copies of the draft report South African Water Quality Guidelines for Coastal Marine Waters Volume 2: Interim Guidelines for Recreational Waters can be obtained from DEA's offices. The department plans to have the interim guidelines available early next year.
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| South Africa's 3000-km coastline stretches from the Orange River on the west coast to Ponta do Ouro on the east coast. South Africa is unique in having sharply contrasting coastal climates ranging from the cool temperate west coast influenced by the cold Benguela Current and the subtropical east coast influenced by the warm Agulhas Current. |
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