Deteriorating water quality on the beaches of South Africa is going to make it difficult for the bathers to use them during this summer. This is because of the leakage of sewage in the waters that have been happening constantly for over a year now.

A program named Blue Flag program was started to make these beached reach international standards.

Programme Manager of Blue Flag Alison Kelly has accepted that the quality of water has gone down in the last 10 years and this is the result of poor waste-water management.

She said, "In the past 10 years we have seen a trend which indicates that water quality is deteriorating along the coastline. We believe that it is related to the issue of inadequate infrastructure."

Surprisingly, no or very limited information is given to the swimmers about this growing menace. In 1993, a study was carried out that found out that because of the polluted waters, diseases like gastrointestinal, respiratory and skin effects are caused.

These swimmers are also facing higher number of cases where they are faced with diarrhoea, vomiting, breathing problems and skin rashes.