Kings Beach reopens after week-long sewage spill in Gqeberha

After nearly a week of contaminated water flowing into one of Gqeberha’s most visited beaches, municipal officials say the problem has been resolved.

Late on Tuesday night, the municipality confirmed that two sewer blockages – including one caused by a scaffolding board or ladder – had been cleared. The spill, first reported last week, forced the closure of Kings Beach and flooded large parts of the parking area with foul-smelling water. At 4pm on Tuesday, the parking lot was still covered in filthy water. The municipality announced that the beach had been reopened at 9.30pm on Tuesday. 

Officials say the water quality has been tested and recreational activity can resume, but clean-up operations are still under way.

The spill drew public criticism after it emerged that sewage had been flowing for days, from a site 5km inland near the city’s airport, all the way down to the beachfront via the stormwater system.

The municipality has since detailed the chain of events that led to the beach closure, starting with a blockage deep in the city’s underground sewer network. Fixing the problem was difficult due to swampy terrain, overgrown vegetation and dense trees, the municipality said.

Once they could gain access to a series of remote manholes near the Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport, workers made an odd discovery of what had blocked the pipeline, ultimately causing polluted water to seep into the stormwater system.

Read more: Sewage spill in Gqeberha forces beach closure ahead of Boks-Italy clash

“The municipality wishes to advise that the source of the blockage has been identified as either a scaffolding board or a ladder that had become lodged in the sewer line,” a statement from the municipality read on Tuesday.

Teams on site began work to dislodge the object so that sewer line operations could be restored. However, while tracking the source of the initial obstruction, a second blockage was found nearby.

“The second blockage is unrelated to the initial spill. However, it is also contributing to the spill at the Kings Beach parking area. A secondary team is now working to track this section of sewer line and identify the source of the second blockage,” the statement said.

Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya said treatment of contaminated water had taken place. Ward 2 councillor Sean Tappan, who first reported the spill, said sewage was pushing through several manholes in a bushy area opposite the airport, flowing across the road and into the stormwater drains.

Along with the secondary spill detected on Tuesday, the contaminated water made its way downhill, along the main stormwater lines, and eventually found its way into the parking areas and the surf at Kings Beach.

On Monday, Soyaya confirmed that teams had been on the ground with specialised equipment to trace leaks and clean affected areas since last week. “This task was made difficult by the presence of swampy terrain, overgrown vegetation and dense trees,” Soyaya said.

He said contractors began clearing some of the dense vegetation to gain access to manhole covers. This would give them access to drains for more thorough inspections and create the possibility of “bypass pumping operations” that would allow them to avoid the sections of pipe causing the problem.

“Honey sucker trucks have deployed to pump out contaminated water at some of the bigger spills, giving teams easier access to manholes and drains.

“Our teams continue to treat the affected areas to reduce E. coli levels and neutralise unpleasant odours,” Soyaya said earlier this week.

This is the latest in a series of pollution woes that have plagued the Nelson Mandela Bay coastline in recent months. Summerstrand residents often report foul odour coming from stormwater drains along the beachfront due to undetermined contamination, while further down the coast, Brighton Beach has been closed for several months by leaks from the nearby Fishwater Flats wastewater treatment works.

Read more: Sewage pollution, vandalism to keep Nelson Mandela Bay beach closed until summer

Soyaya said while the municipality was always committed to resolving such issues as a matter of urgency, the timing of the spill was not ideal with the international rugby Test match between the Springboks and Italy scheduled for this weekend at the NMB Stadium. DM