Cape Town’s Water Resilience Committee that was launched in the wake of so-called Day Zero has been reconstituted as the municipality looks to address water pollution.

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has unveiled the Water Quality in Wetlands and Waterways Advisory Committee. He has promised that the committee made up of water activists and experts as well as community members will be transparent about water quality data. He admits that this is the best way of working in cleaning these water bodies.

In recent years several Cape Town communities have complained about sewage polluting waterways and poor drainage systems.

The committee chaired by the mayor will report to the mayoral committee twice a year. Its main task is to recommend strategies to mitigate water pollution and ensure the long-term protection and restoration of wetlands and waterways. Cape Town has over 1 900 km of rivers and streams and some 4,000 natural and semi-natural wetlands. That includes vleis and estuaries.