Researchers accuse Cape Town of hiding pollution by manipulating science data

City hits back with a comprehensive rebuttal after local academics publish explosive allegations of malfeasance in a peer-reviewed journal

- By Kristin Engel

A new peer-reviewed study led by researchers from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and collaborating institutions has ignited a fierce dispute about water quality management in Cape Town.

The study alleges repeated interference, denialism and misrepresentation of science by the City of Cape Town. The City responded: “These allegations and assertions cannot be further from the truth.”

The study, Contaminant Denialism in Water Governance, in the journal Water Resources Research, critically examines how official public communications and institutional structures may contribute to what the authors term “contaminant denialism”.

This is the downplaying or obfuscation of water contamination in the city’s rivers, estuaries and coastal waters.

The lead researcher of the study, Professor Lesley Green - a paddler, professor of Earth politics and director of Environmental Humanities South at UCT - said the pollution crisis that the researchers had spent more than a decade studying was undeniable, and had an impact on public and marine health.

Green said the tipping point for her personally was a massive sewage spill in Zeekoevlei in June 2021. She discovered that her local ratepayers' association had been pressured not to share contaminant data it had received from the City.

She alleged further instances of intimidation of scientists, several of whom contributed to the new paper, and of City officials approaching her off the record, frustrated by their inability to speak out about their data.

Green alleges a fundamental breakdown in transparent governance, a deliberate undermining of scientific integrity and a betrayal of public trust.