‘Plumes’ off Cape Town spark fears of sewage

MYSTERIOUS “plumes” of oddly coloured water drifting close to some of Cape Town’s best known beaches have prompted a row over the city’s sanitation policy.

The plumes – near Clifton, Camps Bay and Hout Bay – were photographed over the past month by well-known Cape Town photographer Jean Tresfon, a specialist in aerial and underwater images. He posted them to Facebook, prompting dozens of outraged comments.

Clifton and Camps Bay beaches have blue flag status and are among Cape Town’s main tourist beaches.

Tresfon claims the plumes consist of largely untreated sewage.

He said they occurred close to city waste-water “outfalls” which discharge largely untreated sewage into the sea via underwater pipelines.

However, city officials denied any problems with its outfall pipes and said the cause of the plumes still had to be established.

Tresfon said his camera never lied. “Both plumes are exactly where the [sewerage pipe] outfalls are marked on the charts, he said.

His latest photo – of the sewage plume in Hout Bay – was entitled “Yet another crap day in Cape Town” and elicited shocked comments on Facebook.

An earlier photo showed an offshore plume near Green Point.

Last year the Sunday Times reported on a slightly elevated level of e-coli – a bacteria associated with human waste – at Clifton.

Cape Town acting mayoral committee member for utility services, Brett Herron, said the outfall pipes in question had been inspected and found to be in working order.

“The city completed inspections of the pipelines in both Table Bay and Hout Bay in March and all was found to be in order.”

“While we are 100% certain our infrastructure is intact, we will continue to try to establish what the cause of the plume was,” he said.

But Tresfon said he was not convinced, particularly since a recent brush with untreated sewage when diving near an outfall pipe.