Waterborne diseases are a growing crisis in Khayelitsha, where stagnant water, climate change, and poor sanitation fuel a dangerous health emergency
Introduction: Seeing What Others Ignore
In Khayelitsha, one of South Africa’s largest townships, children with cameras have shown the world a story few want to see. Through a youth photography project, a group of learners documented how stagnant water, pollution, and neglect shape their daily lives. Their images of children walking through sludge, algae covering swampy pools, and minibus taxis trapped in contaminated floodwater reveal an invisible crisis: waterborne diseases.
This isn’t only about poor infrastructure or climate change; it is about health, dignity, and survival. The photographs illustrate what statistics often cannot: that the health of Khayelitsha’s community is under siege from contaminated water and worsening living conditions.
1. Waterborne Diseases: The Hidden Epidemic
Waterborne diseases are illnesses spread through contaminated water, often caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites. In Khayelitsha, the stagnant pools captured by young photographers represent more than an eyesore; they are breeding grounds for cholera, typhoid, and hepatitis A.
Children playing in the water risk ingesting harmful pathogens, while families without access to clean water sometimes have no choice but to use polluted sources for drinking or cooking. The risk is not abstract. Outbreaks of cholera in South Africa have claimed lives, while hepatitis A, amoebic dysentery, and E. coli infections remain common in communities with poor sanitation.
2. Climate Change and Its Deadly Ripple Effect
Climate change magnifies the risk of waterborne diseases. Increased rainfall and flooding overwhelm fragile sanitation systems, spreading pathogens into streams and household water supplies. Heatwaves also accelerate bacterial growth in stagnant pools, intensifying health risks.
In Khayelitsha, climate-related storms have repeatedly flooded informal settlements, leaving families stranded in sewage-filled homes for months. The result is a cycle of infection: as water stagnates, mosquitos breed, carrying malaria, while contaminated runoff spreads cholera and typhoid.
3. The Daily Reality in Khayelitsha
For residents of Khayelitsha, the problem is not theoretical. Pools of stagnant, algae-covered water line the streets. Informal dumpsites and poor waste disposal further contaminate the environment.
Children wade through this polluted water to reach school. Families living in shacks often find their homes flooded with sewage after a storm. For them, the choice is stark: endure infection risks or leave their homes altogether.
The youth who participated in the photography project wanted to send a clear message: this is their reality, and ignoring it endangers lives. Their images expose how waterborne diseases thrive where poverty and neglect collide.
4. Infectious Diseases Beyond Borders
Waterborne diseases are not confined to one community. South Africa’s cholera outbreaks have shown how quickly infection spreads across regions. With increasing mobility, the danger of cross-border outbreaks grows.
Statistics highlight the urgency. Large-scale outbreaks in neighboring countries demonstrate that infectious diseases know no borders. Unless the root causes of contaminated water are addressed, communities across Africa remain at risk.
5. Health Impacts: From Diarrhea to Lifelong Damage
The health effects of waterborne diseases vary in severity, but all are devastating.
- Cholera: Causes severe diarrhea, dehydration, and can kill within hours if untreated.
- Hepatitis A and Typhoid: Lead to fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, and long-term liver complications.
- E. Coli infections: Cause diarrhea, urinary infections, and pneumonia.
- Bilharzia (schistosomiasis): Leads to stunted growth, anemia, kidney failure, and bladder cancer in children.
These illnesses do more than threaten lives; they cripple communities by limiting education, productivity, and economic stability. For children, repeated infections often mean missing school, falling behind academically, and suffering long-term health consequences.
6. Mental Health and the Hidden Toll
The link between contaminated water and mental health is often overlooked. But as the learners highlighted, the psychological burden of living with waterborne diseases is heavy.
When homes are flooded, families are displaced. Constant illness creates fear and stress. Parents worry about their children’s safety, while children grow up associating their environment with danger and sickness.
In Khayelitsha, this reality is visible in photographs showing children standing barefoot in sewage or gazing over polluted streams. These images remind us that waterborne diseases are not only physical threats but emotional ones too.
7. The Role of Art and Storytelling
Photography has become a powerful tool to expose hidden truths. The project “Things We Left Unseen” places the experiences of Khayelitsha’s youth in global conversation, showing how waterborne diseases impact communities worldwide.
For the young photographers, this was also an act of empowerment. By framing their reality, they challenge narratives of hopelessness and show resilience, creativity, and the desire to be heard.
8. Lessons from Global Outbreaks
Khayelitsha’s story resonates beyond South Africa. In India, irregular monsoons have dried rivers, forcing communities to drink from contaminated riverbeds. In Eastern Europe, toxic lakes from mining waste continue to pollute groundwater. In Bangladesh, urban flooding exacerbates waterborne diseases.
These examples underline a global truth: wherever climate change and poor sanitation meet, waterborne diseases thrive.
9. Building Solutions: What Needs to Be Done
To combat waterborne diseases, multiple solutions must converge:
- Infrastructure investment: Improve sanitation systems and drainage in vulnerable townships.
- Community education: Teach safe water practices and hygiene awareness.
- Policy change: Prioritize public health spending in informal settlements.
- Climate resilience: Build systems designed to withstand floods and extreme weather.
- International collaboration: Share resources, expertise, and strategies across borders.
Communities like Khayelitsha cannot solve these crises alone. Government, NGOs, and international partners must invest in sustainable infrastructure and healthcare.
10. A Call to Action
The photographs from Khayelitsha are more than art; they are warnings. They tell us that unless we act, waterborne diseases will continue to devastate vulnerable communities.
The fight against contaminated water is not only about preventing illness but about preserving dignity, opportunity, and the future of children.
As the World Health Organization emphasizes, safe water is a fundamental human right. For Khayelitsha and countless other communities, it is also a matter of survival.
Conclusion
Khayelitsha’s youth have shown us the truth: there really is something in the water. And that something is not just pollution; it is the risk of disease, the weight of poverty, and the shadow of climate change.
But their images also reflect resilience, determination, and the possibility of change. If the world listens, invests, and acts, then perhaps the next generation will no longer photograph stagnant pools but thriving communities with safe, clean water.
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