The city still has numerous sewage pollution issues, but Geordin Hill-Lewis is 'on the right track', says expert.

It has been a year since Geordin Hill-Lewis donned Cape Town's mayoral chain and declared the city's sewage pollution crisis a top priority. The City is making some progress, but many of the biggest pollution problems remain.

Arguably the most pressing, and most visible sewage pollution is that of the Diep River estuary, which forms the Milnerton Lagoon.

The estuary receives stormwater and pollution via the Diep River from informal settlements upstream, but activists and scientists believe the main pollution source is the Potsdam sewage treatment works, which releases about 47-million litres of effluent into the Diep River every day. Under the City's management, the effluent is supposed to be properly treated, but historical data from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) shows the sewage plant has failed to meet national effluent quality guidelines since 2018.

The extent of the estuary's pollution led to the provincial government issuing the City a directive to stop the pollution and rehabilitate the estuary more than two years ago. Though the pollution has continued, no further action has been taken by provincial authorities. Any recreational...