‘You can’t expect tourists to come to Camps Bay and swim in sewage’ - Professor of Chemistry

John Maytham (in for Lester Kiewit on CapeTalk) speaks with Prof. Leslie Petrik, emeritus professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of the Western Cape.

Listen below:

Professor Petrik has raised concerns about the wastewater treatment process in the City of Cape Town.

She has been an outspoken critic of the City’s handling of sewage that flows into the sea.

She was recently invited by the CoCT to present her research on the presence of Chemicals of Emerging Concern (CEC).

“I was given the opportunity after 15 years to present 15 years’ worth of research.”

- Prof. Leslie Petrik, Department of Chemistry - University of the Western Cape 

She says officials did thoroughly question her research and some made attempts to discredit it, but she believes there are people in the City who are starting to understand the impact of these chemicals.

She adds that previous research by the City has used parameters that have not highlighted the pollution in the water.

“You cannot argue with the chemical fingerprints in sewage.”

- Prof. Leslie Petrik, Department of Chemistry - University of the Western Cape 

Petrik also says the chemicals in the sewage are spreading much further than the City has claimed.

RELATED: Cape Town’s sewage treatment isn’t coping: scientists are worried about what the City is telling the public

She says the sewage in the water could negatively affect tourism.

If the City is to promote itself as a tourism destination, she says the marine outfalls must be addressed urgently.

“You can’t expect tourists to come to Camps Bay and swim in the sewage.” 

- Prof. Leslie Petrik, Department of Chemistry - University of the Western Cape 

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