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wastewaterlatest news & developments
Cumulative strain: The Klip River flows through Soweto, Lenasia and the broader Midvaal area before joining the Vaal River, passing industrial zones, agricultural land, wetlands, protected areas and densely populated settlements. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy
ANDREW BARKER

Pollution threatens vital waterway

From stormwater and sewage to degraded wetlands, the Klip River’s decline highlights the urgent need for infrastructure repairs and ecological restoration, scientists warn

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
The Blue, Green and No Drop certification programmes are the department’s regulatory mechanisms to improve municipal drinking water quality, wastewater management, water conservation and demand management.
BLUE DROP REPORT

SA’s water crisis deepens: Nearly half of wastewater systems critical

The latest Green, Blue and No Drop reports show widespread deterioration of water and sanitation infrastructure. Nearly half of wastewater systems are critical, drinking water…

  • Sheree Bega
8 min read
Eskom and Sasol, which are considered two of the country’s biggest polluters, have been granted postponements, suspensions and/or alternative limits of the minimum emissions standards since 2015. (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
AIR POLLUTION

UN special rapporteur: Toxic pollution in SA fuelled by corporate greed and government inaction 

Marcos Orellana noted the poor disposal of waste and hazardous substances, the wide use of pesticides and weak enforcement of regulations

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
Greener drug design, rather than wastewater treatment, is crucial to combating the pharmaceutical pollution crisis. (Getty Images)
ACTIVE PHARMACEUTICAL INGREDIENTS

Scientists say pharmaceutical pollution is devastating wildlife

Greener drug design, rather than wastewater treatment, is crucial to combating the pharmaceutical pollution crisis

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
Gauteng residents collecting water from a tanker. File photo
BLUE DROP

SA water quality has deteriorated and could pose a health risk – DWS

The Department of Water and Sanitation’s Blue and Green Drop Reports show that microbiological and chemical compliance are lacking in our drinking water

  • Ozayr Patel
4 min read
File photo by Delwyn Verasamy)
ANTHONY TURTON

‘Gargantuan’ amount of sewage flowing from Joburg pump station

Zandspruit pump is a mess, says Joburg resident, citing load-shedding, lack of maintenance, high effluent volumes and poor infrastructure

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
Political interference, corruption, skills shortages, supply chain inefficiencies and red tape are among the causes of the eThekwini municipality’s water and sanitation woes that have led to a breakdown of the water treatment infrastructure. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
COLESBERG REGIONAL COURT

Northern Cape municipality slapped with R10m fine for sewage pollution

Umsobomvu municipality pleads guilty, admits to receiving complaints from as far back as 2017

  • Sheree Bega
6 min read
A section of Strand Beach on the False Bay coastline and Small Bay in Blaauwberg, as well as a section of Fish Hoek Beach were temporarily closed over New Year because of sewage spills. (Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
CAPE TOWN

Ageing infrastructure and load-shedding cause sewage spills and beach closures in Cape Town

A few beaches were temporarily closed over the new year because of sewage spills

  • Lesego Chepape
3 min read
Water treatment plants, along with hospitals, harbours, railways and other critical infrastructure are supposed to be exempted from load-shedding in terms of national state of disaster regulations promulgated last month. (Photo by Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS
Video

Q&A: Collaboration needed as water treatment plants reach capacity

UCT’s Kevin Winter explains the dangers of poor management and how wastewater can be better utilised

  • Lesego Chepape
4 min read
A health worker conducts a coronavirus rapid antigen test at a Testaro Covid-19 testing site in the Goodwood district of Cape Town, South Africa, on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. South Africa announced the discovery of a new variant, later christened omicron, on Nov. 25 as cases began to spike and the strain spread across the globe. (Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
COVID 19

Meet the scientists tracking Covid-19’s crappy future

Water in the country’s drains can pick up a spike in Covid-19 cases or a threatening new variant in time for clinics to prepare for an influx of patients

  • Zano Kunene
10 min read
Stage two water restrictions were introduced in Joburg this week but these will only be effective if they are enforced as they were in Cape Town during their Day Zero period. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
ANTHONY TURTON

Nelson Mandela Bay is on the brink of Day Zero and faces humanitarian disaster

Just a few weeks left until taps run dry in large parts of the metropolitan

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
Water treatment plants, along with hospitals, harbours, railways and other critical infrastructure are supposed to be exempted from load-shedding in terms of national state of disaster regulations promulgated last month. (Photo by Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
ANTHONY TURTON

SA’s dismal state of wastewater management

The Green Drop 2022 report, the first since 2013, reflects a serious deterioration in the management of wastewater treatment plants

  • Sheree Bega
9 min read
Stage two water restrictions were introduced in Joburg this week but these will only be effective if they are enforced as they were in Cape Town during their Day Zero period. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
ACID MINE DRAINAGE

Sona 2022: ‘Water is South Africa’s most precious natural resource’ — Ramaphosa

Ramaphosa said planned institutional reform will improve the enforcement of water standards at municipal level

  • Sheree Bega
2 min read
Urine been described as the “liquid gold” of wastewater.
DIESEL ENGINE FLUID

UCT student turns urine into fertiliser

Urine is liquid gold and a valuable waste stream, say researchers

  • Sheree Bega
4 min read
CONTAMINATION

Sewage poisons the Vaal River

‘We don’t just wear masks because of Covid-19 — it’s because of all this shit’

  • Sheree Bega
  • Marcia Zali
7 min read
ANTHONY TURTON

South Africa will miss UN’s clean water targets

Mismanagement, pollution and a water deficit exacerbated by climate change are to blame

  • Sheree Bega
4 min read
CHOLERA

Gauteng’s most vital resource irreparably damaged – SAHRC

Commission’s long-awaited report into Vaal sewage crisis finds widespread non-compliance by the government

  • Sheree Bega
6 min read
orldwide, 80% of the wastewater produced receives no treatment, which causes environmental harm and spreads diseases. (Photo by Anton Raharjo/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
COVID 19

We developed a simple process to recycle urine. Here’s how it’s done

Most of the wastewater produced worldwide receives no treatment and the nutrients in wastewater go to waste. Here’s how households can draw these nutrients from urine

  • Prithvi Simha
  • Christopher Buckley
  • Jenna Senecal
5 min read
There is a sanitation crisis In numerous informal settlements around South Africa. Photo: Sewage waste. Delwyn Verasamy/M&G
COVID 19

Testing sewage: The Covid canary in our wastewater

Local scientists are using wastewater-based epidemiology to trace the SARS-CoV-2 virus in South Africa’s sewage system, which could act as an early warning system for outbreaks…

  • Elna Schütz
6 min read