Submitted Ideas

Rapidly expanding coastal urban centers pollute South African oceans

Posted by Keenan Stears | KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The rapid growth of coastal urban centers and coastal tourism sectors in South Africa produce vast quantities of pollution from untreated domestic sewage. This pollution ultimately ends up in the oceans off the South African coast. This issue is further exacerbated by rapidly expanding rural populations along South African rivers that have little to no sewage treatment infrastructure. These issues lead to huge quantities of untreated sewage and other pollutants entering South African rivers. A prime example of this is the Umngeni River in Durban South Africa, which is considered one the most polluted rivers in South Africa. The effects of this pollution on human health is well documented. Could an independent water testing system be set up that could publicly share information, maybe even real-time, via the internet on water quality in an area like around Durban? I think this would help people heading to the beach make informed decisions about their health and maybe it would also shame the government into taking action to remedy this issue.