City challenges UCT findings over pharmaceutical pollution in Hout Bay

THE City has hit back at the findings of a UCT study that detected a range of pharmaceutical and personal care product compounds (PPCPs) in mussel tissue samples collected at significant distances from a marine outfall and the Hout Bay River mouth.

- STAFF REPORTER

Deputy Mayor and Mayco Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Eddie Andrews said the authors of the study appear to be doing no more than speculating when they state that the marine outfall does not achieve the dilution and dispersal of contaminants of emerging concern.

“Their work did not include an analysis of PPCPs in effluent, river water or in coastal waters, and analysed only mussels found in situ in the coastal environment. This study cannot draw conclusions as to the source of the contaminants or the extent of the impact zone of the marine outfall, nor the effectiveness of its design, based on the methods and results presented.

“We look forward to engaging further with the authors in an appropriate forum on various concerns we have with the extensive conclusions they have drawn from a very limited study that did not investigate all of the aspects captured in its conclusions,” Andrews said.

According to the study, Hout Bay's marine environment is seriously threatened by PPCPs that persist and bio-accumulate in marine life, even kilometres away from pollution sources.

Andrews said the challenge of the removal of PPCPs from wastewater is by no means unique to Hout Bay or to Cape Town.