Cape Town beachgoers will soon have an easier way to check whether their favourite stretch of coastline is suitable for recreational use, with the City launching a new online platform providing up-to-date water quality and beach information.

Cape Town Beach Alerts is designed as a one-stop source for information on beaches and tidal pools along the Atlantic and False Bay coastlines.

The platform, available at Cape Town Beach Alerts, provides the latest and long-term coastal water quality results in a simplified, colour-coded format.

Users can search for a specific beach or tidal pool and view its most recent water quality result, as well as results over the past 365 days.

The system uses three colours to make the information easier to understand: green indicates results within the national recreational water quality guidelines, amber indicates a single failure, while red indicates two consecutive failures.

More than water quality

The platform goes beyond pollution results, providing a range of information for locals and visitors planning a day at the coast.

For each monitored beach or tidal pool, users can access the location where water samples are collected, the number of samples taken over the previous year, the date of the last failed result and the results of the last eight samples.

It also provides long-term water quality classifications, testing protocols and details of any active environmental alerts.

Weather information, including current conditions and a three-day forecast with wind direction and strength, is also included.

Beach goers can check whether lifeguards are on duty, view seasonal lifeguard schedules and find out whether a beach is designated as a Blue Flag beach during the season.

The City says the platform will eventually be expanded to include information such as dog-walking areas, coastal upgrades and marine-life sightings.

Alerts for coastal incidents

The service is also available through the City of Cape Town mobile application, with users able to register for push notifications about environmental and pollution-related alerts.

These could include incidents such as sewage spills, unusual marine-life events, a beached whale, a rabid seal or other events that could affect beach users.

City Deputy Mayor and Mayco member for spatial planning and environment, Eddie Andrews, said the platform was intended to make technical water quality information easier for the public to understand.

“Cape Town Beach Alerts makes complicated data about coastal water quality accessible to the public,” Andrews said.

He said the City wanted the platform to become a trusted source of information for residents and visitors.

“This is only the first phase of the webpage,” he said, adding that more information would be added during future development.

Weekly testing across the coastline

The City says its coastal water quality monitoring programme covers more than 300km of coastline, with a dedicated team collecting water samples every week from more than 100 locations.

Testing is based on enterococci counts, an internationally recognised indicator used to assess coastal water quality and associated health risks.

The samples are independently analysed by a laboratory accredited by the South African National Accreditation System for microbiological analysis of seawater.

Andrews encouraged residents and visitors to use the new platform when planning trips to the coast.

“Please save the link, share it, and use it for reliable and relevant beach information in your pocket,” he said.

The launch comes ahead of the summer season, when thousands of residents and visitors are expected to make use of Cape Town’s beaches and tidal pools.

Go to https://beachalerts.capetown.gov.za and try it out

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