This thesis explores citizen science, independent research, government reports as well as international treaties to question what is considered valid evidence in determining if Cape Town’s marine effluent outfalls are polluting its coastline. This interdisciplinary research is a continuation of the researcher's honour’s thesis, whereby she worked in partnership with Environmental and Nano Science Group, Department of Chemistry at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. A component of her dissertation involved sampling several marine species for commonly used household chemicals as well as microbial testing for E.coli. In 2017 the researcher co-authored the paper “Desalination and seawater quality at Green Point, Cape Town: A study on the effects of marine sewage outfalls”. Her work forms part of an international bilateral project, the SANOceans project between South Africa and Norway and in 2019, she presented her research findings in Aarhus, Denmark, at the conference 'Governing Urban Natures'.
Researcher
Melissa Zackon holds a bachelor’s degree majoring in English, Psychology and Anthropology from the University of Stellenbosch and an honours degree in Social Anthropology from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.