'Dusi Guts' threatens annual canoe race
With less than three weeks to go, KwaZulu-Natal's premier canoe marathon, the Hansa Powerade Dusi, is under threat because the poor water quality has become a health risk.
The three-day canoe race is due to start at Camps Drift, in Pietermaritzburg, on January 17 and end at Blue Lagoon, in Durban, on January 19.
Three weeks ago, more than 100 paddlers who took part in a practice on the river ended up with severe diarrhoea.
Dusi official Ray de Vries is very concerned.
"We believe we have about two thousand entries this year - another record - and the economic impact of this race is estimated to be about R20-million in direct expenditure," he said.
"The paddlers are our priority. We will do everything in our power to make sure the water is clean, but we rely on the authorities to give us the information.
"We have been told the quality is no problem, but the paddlers are sick" he added.
"The Dusi cannot afford bad water. I don't even want to think about what this could mean," said De Vries.
Many paddlers use the last month of training to get acquainted with the route, but De Vries says race organisers are concerned that Umgeni Water has not been able to tell them whether it is safe to do so.
The sponsors are less concerned. Amalgamated Beverage Industries Marketing Manager Norman Rielly said Powerade and Hansa were co-sponsors of the event.
"I don't think this (water problem) will affect us in any way and I am sure the event will go ahead, so there is no risk to the sponsorship," he added.
Day one of the race starts at Camps Drift and ends at Nagle Dam, with day two ending in Inanda Dam. It is this stretch of river which is yielding frightening amounts of bacteria called e-coli - which cause Dusi Guts.
Kenny Bishops, who has seven gold medals under his belt, paddled along the route three weeks ago as part of a pre-Dusi race.
"I have been so sick with diarrhoea and a really bad sinus infection," he said.
A large number of other paddlers fell ill after the race, with well over 100 of them reporting symptoms of Dusi Guts, such as severe diarrhoea.
Umgeni Water Microbiology and Public Health principal microbiologist, Ian Bailey, who is usually in charge of testing the water quality of the route, is on holiday in London.
However, Water Quality Scientific Services Senior Scientist Dean Simpson said testing of the route was done regularly.
At Camps Drift, the start of the race, they test once a week, as they do at three other sites on the route.
At the sewerage farm they test three times a week.
The latest results show that while from Inanda Dam down the water is cleaner, the start of the race shows moderate risk and near the sewerage farms there is high risk.
"We measure the quality by the number of e-coli per 100ml. Less than 100 is considered low, less than 10 000 is considered moderate while higher is considered high risk," explained Simpson.
When the last testing was done just above the sewerage farms on December 24, the results yielded 29 000 e-coli per 100ml.
The bacteria comes from leaking sewerage pumps and pump stations higher up towards Pietermaritzburg.
"We are testing 18 sites in the Pietermaritzburg area for leaks," he added.
The only way to improve the water condition is to find out where the bacteria are coming from, fix the source and hope the e-coli levels drop to a level that is acceptable. But for the moment, water conditions are not safe for the paddlers.
"At this present time, there is considerable health risk to the paddlers," Simpson admitted.
Further rainfall will add to the problem, washing debris and bacteria from the river banks into the water.