A fresh groundswell of opposition has developed against the City's plans to pump raw sewage into the ocean over the next five years.
Experts have warned that a health, environmental and economic crisis is looming if authorities ignore previous concerns about an urgent need for alternative solutions amid rapid population growth.
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) granted the City a five-year permit to pump sewage into the ocean via marine outflows at Green Point, Camps Bay and Hout Bay.
Raw sewage has been pumped into the ocean through a sewage outfall pipe since 1895 in Green Point, early 1970s in Camps Bay and early 1980s in Hout Bay.
However, National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) CEO and specialist in maritime medicine, Dr Cleeve Robertson, said the marine outflows weren’t designed for the large volumes of sewage now being pumped into the ocean. Sewage could now be found close to shore.
Roberston and other specialists raised concerns over the serious implications of the situation and said these could no longer be "ignored or downplayed".
Environmental specialist at the University of Free State Dr Tony Turton lambasted the City for being "tone deaf" to the growing public anger over sewage pollution.
"We cannot continue to dump sewage into the ocean and not expect serious health implications. These can include the emergence of multi-drug-resistant pathogens. There's already been a few cases of flesh-eating bacteria from sewage, the most notable of which was a writer and historian in KwaZulu Natal," he said.
Action SA has warned that if its objection to the permit submitted this week was ignored, it would approach the courts.
Eminent epidemiologist Professor Jo Barnes said the health implications of exposure to untreated sewage were grave.
"Sewage carries many disease organisms and chemical components that harm health. The sewage that is discharged into the ocean around the Cape Peninsula is untreated, although it took the City a long time to admit to this," said Barnes.
According to Barnes, although some basic pre-treatment was applied to sewage to remove large objects such as plastic bags and baby nappies, no treatment "per se" was done.
She added that marine studies around the release points also found that seafood, including fish, harvested for human consumption could carry pollution and disease-causing organisms back to the population.
"This is an under-estimated source of infection since the origin of many infections are never properly investigated in our overburdened public hospitals. Thus the risk is underestimated or not even realised," warned Barnes.
NSRI was the first to submit a formal objection to the permit decision.
"You wouldn't swim in your toilet, would you? Yet people are swimming in waters (into which) oxins, poison and fertilisers have been pumped into", said Robertson.
He also warned that the city's tourism sector could suffer as tourists wouldn’t want to visit contaminated beaches.
"We've seen it happen in KwaZulu Natal. The last thing we want is beaches highly rated by AAA Tripadvisor deteriorate to a point where they are experiencing several spills," added Roberton.
Several beaches were closed during the festive season due to spills and the city's own Know Your Coast report showed that bacterial pollution was a long-standing issue around the coastline, flagging water quality along Three Anchor Bay and other areas.
Professor of chemistry at the University of Western Cape, Leslie Petrik, also warned of an environmental impact.
"The sewage released via the marine outfalls causes many environmental issues apart from the health implications of pathogens and viruses discharged in the untreated sewage," said Petrik adding that the toxic substances killed marine life.
Petrik also warned that antibiotics and antiseptics that people used and which escaped into the environment via sewage could cause serious and untreatable infections.
The experts also cited a backlog in maintenance of existing infrastructure and a shortfall in the expansion of new infrastructure as a challenge.
Overloaded and malfunctioning sewage treatment works were also blamed for the situation.
Petrik also said the challenges were also due to the population's rapid growth, which had "outstripped" the City's ability to adequately and timeously provide sanitation for all the people .
Acting Mayco member for Water and Sanitation Siseko Mbandezi said the sewage was screened to remove solids.
He added that the City was operating within the limits of marine environmental standards.
But Barnes said the City had been asked to investigate other options for a long time and needed to pay more attention to those requests.
"Modern sewage treatment by means of, for example, package plants, occupy much less space than the old-fashioned treatment works.
"Even if an interim stage is implemented first where the sewage is not fully treated but only up to the secondary stage, while other permanent options are planned and installed, that will already be a huge improvement. So far, there seems not to be the political or administrative will to consider these alternatives," added Barnes
Turton added that wastewater treatment plants could be used optimally.
"All over the world, sewage is dealt with adequately in wastewater treatment works that safely deal with the health risk while creating clean water to be discharged back to the river. So why must Cape Town be any different?
“They claim to be a world-class city, so why not adhere to global standards used in other world-class cities?" he charged.