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https://theconversation.com/cape-towns-sewage-treatment-isnt-coping-scientists-are-worried-about-what-the-city-is-telling-the-public-260317>
"Urban water bodies – rivers, lakes and oceans – are in trouble globally. Large
sewage volumes damage the open environment, and new chemicals and
pharmaceutical compounds don’t break down on their own. When they are released
into the open environment, they build up in living tissues all along the food
chain, bringing with them multiple health risks.
The city of Cape Town, South Africa, is no exception. It has 300km of coastline
along two bays and a peninsula, as well as multiple rivers and wetlands. The
city discharges more than 40 megalitres of raw sewage directly into the
Atlantic Ocean every day. In addition, large volumes of poorly treated sewage
and runoff from shack settlements enter rivers and from there into both the
Atlantic and the Indian Oceans.
Over almost a decade, our multi-disciplinary team, and others, have studied
contamination risks in Cape Town’s oceans, rivers, aquifers and lakes. Our goal
has been to bring evidence of contaminants to the attention of officials
responsible for a clean environment.
Monitoring sewage levels in the city’s water bodies is essential because of the
health risks posed by contaminated water to all citizens – farmers, surfers,
and everybody eating fish and vegetables. Monitoring needs to be done
scientifically and in a way that produces data that is trustworthy and not
driven by vested interests. This is a challenge in cities where scientific
findings are expected to support marketing of tourism or excellence of the
political administration.
Our research findings have been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals.
We have also communicated with the public through articles in the media, a
website and a documentary.
Cape Town’s official municipal responses to independent studies and reports,
however, have been hostile. Our work has been unjustifiably denounced by top
city officials and politicians. We have been subject to attacks by fake social
media avatars. Laboratory studies have even received a demand for an apology
from the political party in charge of the city.
These extraordinary responses – and many others – reflect the extent to which
independent scientific inquiry has been under attack."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
