ActionSA urges CoCT to invest more money into addressing ongoing marine outfall sewage crisis

JOHANNESBURG - ActionSA has urged the City of Cape Town (CoCT) to invest more money into addressing what it has deemed an ongoing marine outfall sewage crisis.

As part of its budget for the current financial year, the city allocated R40 million to upgrade Cape Town's marine outfalls.

ActionSA believes the budget allocation is not enough.

The city’s water and sanitation directorate has secured a R4.9 billion budget for the current financial year. Of this, R1.8 billion will be invested in the expansion and upgrades of wastewater treatment works, with R40 million being allocated to marine outfall upgrades.

ActionSA spokesperson, Matthew George, said it was a glaring oversight.

"In 2023, ActionSA laid criminal charges against the City of Cape Town for its continued use of marine outflows, which discharge an estimated 40 million cubic litres of raw, untreated sewage into marine protected areas off Camps Bay, Hout Bay and Sea Point. This constitutes an environmental disaster of the highest order, one that this budget once again ignores."  

The city said independent studies show the outfalls are reducing potential ecological and human health effects brought on by discharged sewage.