Cape Town's scenic beaches, which are a draw card for tourists, are occasionally contaminated by bacteria from faeces, at levels which pose a risk to human health, GroundUp reports.

The City claims this is due to pollution washing out the stormwater system when it rains, but local scientists suspect the millions of litres of sewage pumped into the sea every day from pipelines in Mouille Point, Camps Bay, and Hout Bay also contribute.

Overflows at the Zandvliet wastewater treatment works, which flow into the Kuils River and from there into False Bay, are also a concern.

Yet the City has not made the results of water quality tests easily available to the public for the last five years.