Like all tidal pools, the one below Gonubie’s shabby boardwalk should offer the opportunity to enjoy all the benefits of an ocean dip without the perils of rip tides or sharks.
But when Daily Dispatch visited the seaside facility last week, a safe swimming environment was not the first thought that sprang to mind.
Stairs leading into the water were caked in slimy algae, a cement wall had broken away from the structure and tumbled to the beach below and hundreds of polystyrene balls and other floating trash were being flushed over the pool embankment and out to sea.
International environmental reports have shown that polystyrene balls are ingested by seabirds who confuse them with fish eggs, while other harmful plastic debris can lead to restricted mobility, smothering, starving and infection of turtles, whales and sea birds.
BCM municipal staff present at the pool on Friday afternoon appeared unconcerned about the hazards posed by the floating polystyrene balls and rested near the graffiti-bedecked ablution block which was clean, but in dire need of maintenance.
Both toilets in the women’s section were running, the shower head was missing and water from the basin flowed into a yellow bucket below due to an absent pipe.
A stairway leading to the boardwalk above the pool was cracked and brittle and a long rusted nail poked out from its side.
Christelle Labuschagne, a visitor from the Free State, said the pool was unsafe. “It’s not safe for kids or older people at all because they can slip on the algae on the steps.”
Gonubie resident Sipho Makeleni said he had been disappointed when he visited the pool last Monday. “My sons wanted to swim but they came running to me to say the pool was dirty so I went to look and it was terrible. There were plastics and bottles in the pool and the steps were slippery, but when I went to ask municipal workers why it was so dirty, they said I must ask my government.”
BCM had not replied to queries at the time of writing.
Tidal pool a turn-off to visitors
But when Daily Dispatch visited the seaside facility last week, a safe swimming environment was not the first thought that sprang to mind.
Stairs leading into the water were caked in slimy algae, a cement wall had broken away from the structure and tumbled to the beach below and hundreds of polystyrene balls and other floating trash were being flushed over the pool embankment and out to sea.
International environmental reports have shown that polystyrene balls are ingested by seabirds who confuse them with fish eggs, while other harmful plastic debris can lead to restricted mobility, smothering, starving and infection of turtles, whales and sea birds.
BCM municipal staff present at the pool on Friday afternoon appeared unconcerned about the hazards posed by the floating polystyrene balls and rested near the graffiti-bedecked ablution block which was clean, but in dire need of maintenance.
Both toilets in the women’s section were running, the shower head was missing and water from the basin flowed into a yellow bucket below due to an absent pipe.
A stairway leading to the boardwalk above the pool was cracked and brittle and a long rusted nail poked out from its side.
Christelle Labuschagne, a visitor from the Free State, said the pool was unsafe. “It’s not safe for kids or older people at all because they can slip on the algae on the steps.”
Gonubie resident Sipho Makeleni said he had been disappointed when he visited the pool last Monday. “My sons wanted to swim but they came running to me to say the pool was dirty so I went to look and it was terrible. There were plastics and bottles in the pool and the steps were slippery, but when I went to ask municipal workers why it was so dirty, they said I must ask my government.”
BCM had not replied to queries at the time of writing.
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