The Mercury of November 25, 2008, reported that the Durban bus service could come to halt next January. The bus operator Remant Alton has apparently not receive national transport subsidies from December to March. The company apparently gets R11.5 million per month and will therefore be R46 million short over the festive season area. Erik Moller, deputy head of the city's transport authority, admitted that it was a big problem said he believed that the best solution would be if the money came from the National Treasury or that the province could come to the assistance of the company. The current municipal subsidy of R10 million was apparently still be paid to Remant Alton by the municipality.
In other news, it appears that contestants from the Miss world 2008 competition will be in town for a couple of days, starting on Wednesday, November 26, 2008. 112 contestants will apparently be in the city for photo shoots on the beach and at the Beverly Hills Hotel, before proceeding to Johannesburg for the competition. Hope they don't get ill swimming at our non-Blue Flag beaches!
The paper reported that Enden Refinery should be back in operation by mid-January after a disastrous fire shut down the installation two weeks ago. The fire was apparently caused by mechanical failure on a pump.
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Showing posts with label Blue Flag. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blue Flag. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Blue Flag rears its head again
The Mercury of October 6, 2008, reported that Blue Flag status was awarded to four beaches in KZN excluding Durban, which unfortunately decided to back out of the scheme. The awards were made at a function held at San Lameer on the KZN South Coast on Tuesday. A new fact that that was revealed by local Blue Flag manager Alison Kelly was that Durban-based hospitality groups were so concerned by the city's decision to go it alone that they approached the Blue Flag organisation in an effort to take over responsibility for getting the beaches into shape.. The request was apparently refused because attaining Blue Flag status did not have municipality support.
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Saturday, October 18, 2008
Snippets from the week
I had intended to use this blog on a very occasional basis to record noteworthy things happening around the city but I'm starting to feel withdrawal symptoms if I should miss a couple of days, as happened this week when I had to go away on business. So here goes...
The Mercury of October 14, 2008, reported that Helen Zille, the mayor of Cape Town, was recently voted best mayor in the world. See mention of a reader's letter, below, for an explanation of why this is unlikely to happen in Durban. Also, according to the paper, Independent bus operators have refused Remant Alton's offer for them to take over its routes for fear of being targeted by striking workers.
The Mercury of October 15, 2008, reported that police had arrested two men for alledgedly plotting to kill a Durban Solid Waste Manager. They were arrested in Sydney Road and their car was to to contain two revolvers, ammunition, and some petrol bombs. In other news, Alfred Zondi, the chairman of the KZN Bus Council, called on the KZN Transport MEC Bheki Cele to intervene in the dispute between Remant Alton and its striking workers.
The requirements of Fifa for the World Cup in 2010 sound draconian to say the least. The Mercury reported 2010 Project Head Julie-May Ellingson as saying that, by 2010, the city will be empowered to immediately remove offending signage from buildings, especially anything which conflicts with Fifa's requirements. At the moment, the city needs a court order before it can remove signage and that's fine by me.
It's a puzzle why we should tolerate such interference in our affairs. It would have been better in the longrun to have told Fifa to keep their World Cup. It seems that the city is running out of money (not surprising when you consider the extravagance onvolved in the new stadium) because Ellingson also appealed to business for R15-million to upgrade facilities around the stadium.
In another story, the eThekwini Municipality was awarded the best credit rating of any municpality in Africa. This is bad news as far as I'm concerned, because our masters are surely going to be tempted to borrow more money on the strength of that.
Residents around Inanda Dam have been warned not to eat fish caught in the dam or vegetables grown nearby. Apparently the water has been found to contain elevayed levels of Mercury. A further study is to done.
The Mercury of October 16, 2008, reported that riot police, snipers and helicopters had prevented a march by Remant Alton and Durban Solid Waste workers through Durban the previous day. City Manager Michael Sutcliffe said the decision had been taken for security reason because the march had the potential to turn violent.
Sounds to me like something that a National Party functionary might have said in the bad old days, not a senior member of an organistion that, itself, has a long history of fighting against injustice. You'd expect the authorities to be more sympathetic to workers who feel they are victims of injustice but I guess its only injustice if it's done to you, not if its done by you...
The paper also reports that environmental affairs and tourism depty minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi has spoken negatively about the city's loss of its Blue Flag beaches. The comments were made the previous day at a meeting at the Point Yacht club to launch a national action plan to protect our coastline. A brochure describing the plan apparently says that the loss of Blue Flag status could have a severe impact on tourism and business.
A reader's letter, signed 'Saddened', in the Independent on Saturday, of October 18, 2008, has some comments about the recent award of Best Mayor in the World to Helen Zille, mayor of Cape Town. The reader says that he or she recently spent a week in Cape Town and found the streets to clean and well-maintained, that the traffic signals all worked and that he or she felt safe walking around in the evening. This contrasts strongly with the situation in Durban and the writer wonders whether this has anything to do with the fact that the DA is running Cape Town and the ANC, with its pre-occupation with minor issues such as street-renaming, is running this city.
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The Mercury of October 14, 2008, reported that Helen Zille, the mayor of Cape Town, was recently voted best mayor in the world. See mention of a reader's letter, below, for an explanation of why this is unlikely to happen in Durban. Also, according to the paper, Independent bus operators have refused Remant Alton's offer for them to take over its routes for fear of being targeted by striking workers.
The Mercury of October 15, 2008, reported that police had arrested two men for alledgedly plotting to kill a Durban Solid Waste Manager. They were arrested in Sydney Road and their car was to to contain two revolvers, ammunition, and some petrol bombs. In other news, Alfred Zondi, the chairman of the KZN Bus Council, called on the KZN Transport MEC Bheki Cele to intervene in the dispute between Remant Alton and its striking workers.
The requirements of Fifa for the World Cup in 2010 sound draconian to say the least. The Mercury reported 2010 Project Head Julie-May Ellingson as saying that, by 2010, the city will be empowered to immediately remove offending signage from buildings, especially anything which conflicts with Fifa's requirements. At the moment, the city needs a court order before it can remove signage and that's fine by me.
It's a puzzle why we should tolerate such interference in our affairs. It would have been better in the longrun to have told Fifa to keep their World Cup. It seems that the city is running out of money (not surprising when you consider the extravagance onvolved in the new stadium) because Ellingson also appealed to business for R15-million to upgrade facilities around the stadium.
In another story, the eThekwini Municipality was awarded the best credit rating of any municpality in Africa. This is bad news as far as I'm concerned, because our masters are surely going to be tempted to borrow more money on the strength of that.
Residents around Inanda Dam have been warned not to eat fish caught in the dam or vegetables grown nearby. Apparently the water has been found to contain elevayed levels of Mercury. A further study is to done.
The Mercury of October 16, 2008, reported that riot police, snipers and helicopters had prevented a march by Remant Alton and Durban Solid Waste workers through Durban the previous day. City Manager Michael Sutcliffe said the decision had been taken for security reason because the march had the potential to turn violent.
Sounds to me like something that a National Party functionary might have said in the bad old days, not a senior member of an organistion that, itself, has a long history of fighting against injustice. You'd expect the authorities to be more sympathetic to workers who feel they are victims of injustice but I guess its only injustice if it's done to you, not if its done by you...
The paper also reports that environmental affairs and tourism depty minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi has spoken negatively about the city's loss of its Blue Flag beaches. The comments were made the previous day at a meeting at the Point Yacht club to launch a national action plan to protect our coastline. A brochure describing the plan apparently says that the loss of Blue Flag status could have a severe impact on tourism and business.
A reader's letter, signed 'Saddened', in the Independent on Saturday, of October 18, 2008, has some comments about the recent award of Best Mayor in the World to Helen Zille, mayor of Cape Town. The reader says that he or she recently spent a week in Cape Town and found the streets to clean and well-maintained, that the traffic signals all worked and that he or she felt safe walking around in the evening. This contrasts strongly with the situation in Durban and the writer wonders whether this has anything to do with the fact that the DA is running Cape Town and the ANC, with its pre-occupation with minor issues such as street-renaming, is running this city.
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Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Sea water quality
I've mentioned here and there in these pages that Durban has lost the internationally recognised Blue Flag grading on its beaches. The surprising part, for me, was that the city decided not to reapply, but to introduce its own grading standards. The whole thing is pretty complicated and I'm grateful to Tony Carnie's article in the Mercury of September 1, 2008, for shedding a bit of light on the subject.
What's at issue is how to measure the levels of faecal contamination in the sea water off our beaches and how to determine what the unsafe level is. There are many organisms that could pose a threat to bathers but the city has chosen to follow World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations that tests are done to determine the levels of e.coli and enterococci in the water. These two organisms are used as indicators and the thought is that, if you count how many there are, you can assess how many other baddies are present.
There doesn't seem to be much scientific objection to this way of going about things but the arguments start when it comes to deciding what the acceptable levels of e.coli and enterococci in the water are. The WHO says that seawater can be classed as excellent in quality if it contains less than 40 units of enterococci per 100ml of sea water. The standard for excellent water quality decided on by Durban is that it should have less than 100 units of enterococci per 100ml.
The WHO says that seawater should be classed as poor if the it contains more than 500 units of enterococci per 100ml which, they say, gives swimmers a more than 10% chance of contracting gastroenteritis. Durban has defined poor quality water as that which contains over 2000 units of enterococci per 100ml of sea water. Durban's standards do not seem consistent with the WHO ones, and that that's where the arguments start.
The city's water and waste chief Neil McLeod argues that enterococci flourishes in warmer tropical waters and that you'd get more of them in the seas off Durban, without a corresponding increase in the quantity of other harmful organisms. Scientific opinion seems spilt on this matter leaving at least some room for doubt either way. Durban's response seems to be less cautious than in other locations, such as in New South Wales in Australia. The state has beaches with cold water and beaches with warmer water but has apparently decided to adopt the WHO standards across the board. This will be until it is proved whether warmer water with increased levels of enterococci is really as safe as colder water with lower levels.
Waiting until there's proof! Now, there's a novel idea.
What's at issue is how to measure the levels of faecal contamination in the sea water off our beaches and how to determine what the unsafe level is. There are many organisms that could pose a threat to bathers but the city has chosen to follow World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations that tests are done to determine the levels of e.coli and enterococci in the water. These two organisms are used as indicators and the thought is that, if you count how many there are, you can assess how many other baddies are present.
There doesn't seem to be much scientific objection to this way of going about things but the arguments start when it comes to deciding what the acceptable levels of e.coli and enterococci in the water are. The WHO says that seawater can be classed as excellent in quality if it contains less than 40 units of enterococci per 100ml of sea water. The standard for excellent water quality decided on by Durban is that it should have less than 100 units of enterococci per 100ml.
The WHO says that seawater should be classed as poor if the it contains more than 500 units of enterococci per 100ml which, they say, gives swimmers a more than 10% chance of contracting gastroenteritis. Durban has defined poor quality water as that which contains over 2000 units of enterococci per 100ml of sea water. Durban's standards do not seem consistent with the WHO ones, and that that's where the arguments start.
The city's water and waste chief Neil McLeod argues that enterococci flourishes in warmer tropical waters and that you'd get more of them in the seas off Durban, without a corresponding increase in the quantity of other harmful organisms. Scientific opinion seems spilt on this matter leaving at least some room for doubt either way. Durban's response seems to be less cautious than in other locations, such as in New South Wales in Australia. The state has beaches with cold water and beaches with warmer water but has apparently decided to adopt the WHO standards across the board. This will be until it is proved whether warmer water with increased levels of enterococci is really as safe as colder water with lower levels.
Waiting until there's proof! Now, there's a novel idea.
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