Rethink The Stink

10/10/2026

🚨 Beach alert : Strand, Kommetjie, Gordons Bay YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW WHEN SEWAGE IS POLLUTING YOUR BEACH!

City of Cape Town 's new Coastal Alerts system is a significant step forward, giving the public real-time updates when sewage spills and other pollution events threaten our coastline.

The latest alerts tell a concerning story:

🔴 Strand: A pumpstation failure resulted in sewage discharging from a stormwater outlet near the Strand Pavilion.

🔴 Gordon’s Bay: Polluted water from the Sir Lowry’s Pass River accumulated at the beach.

🔴 Kommetjie: A sewage overflow entered the Bokram River and flowed into coastal waters at Long Beach.

These are precisely the kinds of incidents the public needs to know about. Timely warnings can help protect beachgoers from exposure to potentially contaminated water.

RethinkTheStink welcomes this move towards greater transparency. But let’s be clear: warning the public about pollution cannot become a substitute for preventing it.

We need reliable sewage infrastructure, effective wastewater treatment, prompt pollution response and accountability when failures occur.

Our beaches, our ocean and our health deserve more than warning signs after the damage has been done.

📲 Check the live alerts: https://beachalerts.capetown.gov.za/alerts-dashboard

Please share this post. The more people who know about the system, the better equipped our communities will be to protect themselves.

09/10/2026

🌊 UPDATE: MUDDY FLOW INTO MILNERTON LAGOON, Cape Town
Although RethinkTheStink has received no direct communication, this article and our own investigations indicate that construction at the new Sandrift East Pump Station is the likely source of the muddy discharge.
Municipal authorities say dewatering during complex underground works caused muddy sediment to flow from the Wooden Bridge stormwater outlet with the murky flow stopped by 5 October.
🟢 But what about the green lagoon water?
The green colour is caused by excessive green algae growth, fuelled by excess nutrients from ongoing upstream pollution.
Although the muddy flow appears to have stopped, the broader pollution problem remains a concern. Continued monitoring and action are essential to protect our precious lagoon.
💙 Thank you to our vigilant community members for being the eyes on the ground!

Residents raised concerns after discoloured water entered Milnerton Lagoon on 5 October. The City of Cape Town said the discharge was muddy sediment from dewatering work at the Sanddrift East pump station, not a toxic spill.

09/10/2026

BEACH ALERT Strand , Cape Town

Pollution event east of the Strand Pavilion
Due to a pumpstation failure, sewage has discharged from the stormwater outlet just east of the Strand pavilion.
Active since 9 Oct 2026, 15:27
Active until Ongoing
Teams are on site attending to the pump station failure. Over-pumping has commenced, preventing any further discharge of sewage into the coastal environment. Public health and safety warning signs have been erected and will remain in place until such time coastal water quality results are within recreational use thresholds.

Please exercise caution when in the area and pay attention to the public health and safety warning signs.

As per City of Cape Town beach alerts

08/10/2026

🚨 NATIONAL POLLUTER REGISTER LAUNCH POSTPONED — NOW IS THE TIME TO GET IT RIGHT
The National Polluter Register must provide the public with the full picture of pollution and enforcement in South Africa.

That means including not only legal notices, pre-directives and directives issued by the National Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), but also enforcement action by:
🔹 Provincial environmental departments, such as the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (DEA&DP)
🔹 The National Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE)
🔹 And action against municipalities, private companies and individuals responsible for pollution.

If these records are left out, the Register will not truly be national — and the public will not have a complete picture of who has been formally cited for polluting our environment.

👉 We urge the Department of Water and Sanitation to ensure that all relevant pollution enforcement records, across all spheres of government, are included and publicly accessible.
The public has a right to know.

06/10/2026

🚨 3 DAYS TO GO — BUT WILL THE NATIONAL POLLUTION REGISTER TELL THE WHOLE STORY?
The National Polluter Register promises greater transparency and accountability for water pollution. But provincial pollution directives must be included, not only those issued by the National Department of Water and Sanitation.

In the Western Cape, DEA&DP has issued numerous pre-directives and directives relating to pollution of rivers and water resources.
If these are left out, the Register will not provide a complete national picture of pollution enforcement.
We need one comprehensive, publicly accessible record covering national, provincial and local enforcement action.
👉 Before Thursday’s launch, we are asking the Ministry: Will provincial pollution directives be included in the National Polluter Register?
The public has a right to see the full picture.

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05/10/2026

🚨 WHAT WAS THAT DISCOLOURED WATER FLOWING INTO MILNERTON LAGOON THIS MORNING? 🔎🌊

A flow of discoloured water was spotted coming from the Wooden Bridge stormwater outlet into the Milnerton Lagoon this morning.

Given the outlet’s history of sewage spills, our alert community members were understandably concerned — and our supersleuth team started following the flow. 👀

So far, we’ve identified two possible sources that could potentially explain the discolouration:

🔎 The ongoing construction at the new Sandrift East Pump Station, where we understand dewatering discharge is being filtered through a bidem membrane, with an Environmental Control Officer present.

🔎 A recent pipe burst, which could have introduced sand into the water.

At this stage, we have no indication that either source involves a sewage discharge, and the discolouration appears consistent with sand. But the investigation is still about following the evidence and establishing exactly what happened, rather than jumping to conclusions.

And that’s why community eyes on the ground are so important. 👀

💙 Thank you to the alert community members who spotted the unusual flow and raised the alarm. Your vigilance helps ensure that potential problems affecting our precious lagoon don’t go unnoticed.

See something unusual? Speak up. Ask questions. Follow the flow. 🌊

03/10/2026

🌊 Could this be a turning point for the Milnerton Lagoon?

The City of Cape Town has begun drilling beachwells at Milnerton Beach as part of a pilot project to improve water quality in the lagoon and test whether pumping oxygenated saline water into the upper lagoon will, by increasing oxygen levels and salinity, diluting pollutants and improving flushing, help restore the estuary ecosystem.

💧 Water is expected to start being added in October, followed by a six-month trial with close monitoring of water quality and environmental conditions.

After years of pollution pressure, this is an important intervention — and the results will be closely watched by the community.

🐟🌿🦦 Let’s hope this is another step towards a healthier, living Milnerton Lagoon.

02/10/2026

How long will this beauty last? 🌿💧

Take a moment to watch this beautiful video, taken at Radloff Park, Somerset West.

This is the Western Cape we love. But how long can we continue to take it for granted?

Our rivers, wetlands and estuaries are living ecosystems supporting an extraordinary web of life — from fish and birds to otters like those also found at Milnerton Lagoon.

Yet the warning signs are becoming impossible to ignore.

212 of 346 assessed Western Cape ecosystem types are now threatened, including 79 of 96 freshwater and 45 of 54 estuarine ecosystem types.

Nationally, 91% of South Africa’s estuarine ecosystem types are threatened.

Milnerton Lagoon is a powerful reminder of what is at stake. Estuaries provide vital nursery habitat for young fish and support an entire web of life. When pollution degrades them, the impacts can extend far beyond the lagoon.

We cannot wait until the beauty is gone before deciding it was worth protecting.

Threatened does not mean doomed. It means we still have a choice.

Let’s make sure our children inherit a living Western Cape — not just photographs of what it once was.

🌿💧🌊

🎥 Video shared on Photography @ Friends of Radloff Park, Somerset West.
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27/09/2026

Save a Fishie Petition to Ban Plastic-Stemmed Lollipops in South Africa

21/09/2026

When pollution is visible, should we believe our eyes and noses?

At the Gathering, investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh shared an observation from 20 years of surfing: he and his friends have noticed a visible decline in water quality at certain spots, including Strand, where pollution has at times been visible in the water.

The City of Cape Town Coastal Manager immediately disputed this.

Yet the City's own seawater quality monitoring has recorded unsafe conditions at beaches including Strand, Monwabisi and Macassar for the past 12 months.

We can celebrate Cape Town's mostly pristine coastline without dismissing the lived experience of residents and water users — especially when it is supported by the City's own scientific data.

And what about Strand this weekend?

Another major sewage overflow has discharged via stormwater drains towards the ocean. This is precisely the kind of event that should trigger immediate investigation and public warnings.

Routine sampling is important, but a sample taken at the wrong place or time may not capture a short-lived pollution event. The absence of a positive test does not necessarily mean the water was safe throughout the day.

So why should residents have to choose between trusting their eyes and noses and trusting the City's testing?

Our eyes and noses are not scientific instruments, but they are early warnings that deserve to be taken seriously. Denying , deflecting the issue elsewhere and denigrating the people involved is not a constructive response
Have you noticed changes in water quality at Strand or other Cape Town beaches? Share your experiences below.

Water Quality Awareness Helderberg Water Quality Awareness Bays of Sewage - Cape Town