Nicholas B. Pattinson – The Conversation

Sewage leaks from damaged pipe in eThekwini, South Africa. Courtesy GroundTruth

August 25, 2025

South Africa’s sewage crisis: official reports don’t include millions of litres of leaking wastewater

Nicholas B. Pattinson, University of Cape Town and Mark Graham, University of KwaZulu-Natal

At least 20 million litres of sewage is leaking from pipes into the environment in just one South African city. The problem could cause ecological collapse.

A group of Enviro-Champs using a velocity plank to measure the depth and discharge of a river. Courtesy DUCT and GroundTruth.

March 14, 2024

Sewage leaks put South Africa’s freshwater at risk: how citizen scientists are helping clean up

Jim Taylor, University of KwaZulu-Natal; Mark Graham, University of KwaZulu-Natal, and Nicholas B. Pattinson, University of Cape Town

In South Africa, a group of citizen scientists who test water quality and log the results on a specialised app have helped keep the water supply for 4.3 million people clean.

The carcass of a Grévy’s zebra, an endangered species which exists only in the northern part of Kenya, where drought is ongoing. Photo by FREDRIK LERNERYD/AFP via Getty Images

November 13, 2022

Climate change and wildlife: 3 studies that reveal the devastating toll on Africa’s animals

Moina Spooner, The Conversation

Changing habitat ranges, competition for food and water, and biological effects of climate change all pose threats to wildlife.

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbills struggled to breed at high temperatures. Nicholas B. Pattinson

May 31, 2022

Hotter Kalahari desert may stop hornbills breeding by 2027

Nicholas B. Pattinson, University of Cape Town

Without successful breeding, the hornbill population will not survive, and will quickly become locally extinct.

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