Urban litter (alternatively called trash, debris, flotsam, jetsam, floatables, gross pollutants, rubbish or solid waste) is a major problem in South Africa. It accumulates in public areas until either someone removes it, or it is transported by the wind and/or stormwater runoff into the drainage system. The current paper summarises the results of research into the control of urban litter in urban catchments, and the cost-effective removal of that portion that makes it way into separated stormwater drainage systems.

Background: There is limited data on the association between diarrhoea among children aged under five years (U5D) and water use, sanitation, hygiene, and socio-economics factors in low-income communities. The study investigated U5D and the associated risk factors in the Zeekoe catchment in Cape Town, South Africa. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 707 households in six informal settlements (IS) two formal settlements (FS) (March–June 2017). Results: Most IS households used public taps (74.4%) and shared toilets (93.0%), while FS households used piped water on premises (89.6%) and private toilets (98.3%). IS respondents had higher average hand-washing scores than those of FS (0.04 vs. −0.14, p = 0.02). The overall U5D prevalence was 15.3% (range: 8.6%–24.2%) and was higher in FS than in IS (21.2% vs. 13.4%, respectively, p = 0.01). Water storage >12 h was associated with increasing U5D (OR = 1.88, 95% CI 1.00–3.55, p = 0.05). Water treatment (OR = 0.57, 95%CI 0.34–0.97, p = 0.04), good hand-washing practices (OR = 0.59, 95%CI 0.42–0.82, p = 0.002) and Hepatitis A vaccination (OR = 0.51, 95%CI 0.28–0.9, p = 0.02) had significant preventing effects on U5D. Conclusions: The study highlights that good hygiene practice is a key intervention against U5D in informal settlements. The promotion of hand-washing, proper water storage, and hygienic breastfeeding is highly recommended.

South Africa is struggling to provide services to the millions of poor people migrating to the major centres and living in informal settlements (shanty towns). Whilst the local authorities are generally able to provide potable water from the municipal network to communal taps scattered around the settlements, there is usually inadequate provision of sanitation and little or no provision for the drainage of either stormwater or greywater. This paper describes an investigation into ways of engaging with community structures in the settlements with a view to encouraging "self-help" solutions to greywater management requiring minimal capital investment as an interim "crisis" solution until such time that local and national government is able to provide formal services to everyone. The work was carried out in three settlements encompassing a range of different conditions. Only two are described here. It has become clear that the management of greywater has a low priority amongst the residents of informal settlements. The lack of effective political structures and the breakdown in communication with Ward Councillors and local government officials have contributed to the lack of progress. As the project progressed it became evident that greywater cannot be considered separately from stormwater, sanitation and refuse removal.

The construction of ‘hard’ impermeable surfaces in urban areas results in the increased flow of stormwater runoff and its associated pollutants into downstream receiving waters. Permeable Pavement Systems (PPS) can help mitigate this. The most common type of PPS in South Africa is permeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP), but there is currently insufficient information available on the relative treatment performance of different PICP designs. This paper describes an investigation into the performance of ten different PICP systems constructed in the Civil Engineering Laboratory at the University of Cape Town for the treatment of various nutrients commonly found in stormwater runoff. It was found that removal efficiencies ranged from 27.5% to 78.7% for ammonia-nitrogen and from −37% to 11% for orthophosphate-phosphorus; whilst 4% to 20.2% more nitrite-nitrogen and 160% to 2580% more nitrate-nitrogen were simultaneously added. The presence of a geotextile resulted in higher ammonia-nitrogen removal efficiencies but also higher nitrate-nitrogen addition than those cells without—with small differences between various types. The cell with a permanently wet ‘sump’ had the highest nitrate-nitrogen addition of all. Lower pH results in higher nitrate-nitrogen concentrations, whilst the electrical conductivity strongly depends on the length of the periods between rainfall ‘seasons’, decreasing rapidly during wet periods but increasing during dry periods. Paver type also had a minor impact on nutrient removal.

In recent decades South Africa has witnessed a substantial growth in its urban population. This growth has been accompanied by the mushrooming of informal settlements (shantytowns) flanking more formal development. The lack of adequate urban drainage in many of these informal settlements has resulted in extremely polluted environments which add to the disease burden of the poor people who live there. In many instances, informal settlements in South Africa are established on marginal land that is inherently difficult to service using conventional gravity sewerage. International experience has shown that various alternative wastewater collection systems may present more appropriate ways of providing water-borne sewerage in areas that are difficult to service by conventional means. Alternative sewerage schemes have however had a poor record of success in South African informal settlements – primarily stemming from the implementing agencies' failure to adequately address various social and institutional factors. In this paper, a review of South African experiences with simplified sewerage, settled sewerage and vacuum sewerage in urban informal settlements is used to highlight the key constraints that currently impede the application of these technologies.