From the Jukskei in Johannesburg to the Black River in Cape Town, urban river systems are victim to some of the worst pollution and neglect of all South Africa’s bodies of water. They function as conduits for storm water under heavy rains and raw sewage when waste water treatment plants break down. They are also dumpsites for the underserved and neglected communities that straddle their banks. The poor health of these rivers is often a reflection of the health of the communities they run through, and tells of how disconnected our society is from its vulnerable people, its waste and the sources of its scarce water supply.

Georgia McTaggart is a woman who has really applied her mind and her heart to these disconnects, and is doing what she can to help clean some of Cape Town’s worst affected rivers. Through HelpUp, a “compassionate disruption” initiative she founded from the sale of her car and income as an efficiency analyst, she works with paid homeless residents of the city and local volunteers to clean up and rehabilitate these rivers. “What we strive to do is to constantly innovate and to constantly disrupt in a compassionate way,” says McTaggart. “We can say: you know what, we don’t like this, but we’re not going to moan and groan and write countless letters and not receive replies which will just amplify our anger. We’re just going to do something about it.”

The Black River, which connects the city’s affluent Southern Suburbs with the more underprivileged Cape Flats, and joins the Salt River to drain out into the waters of Cape Town’s iconic Table Bay, is their primary site. Since they started out in 2018, HelpUp have fished out over 80 tonnes of solid waste, created 300 work opportunities and are building community around rehabilitating the river one clean-up at a time. “It actually takes the same amount of energy to complain as it does to do something about it” says Georgia. And, while wading out into the waters at a clean-up is one way of doing something about Cape Town’s polluted rivers, she says the really challenging work is about keeping waste out of the rivers in the first place.

For Water For Life – The water podcast tells the extraordinary stories of ordinary people who have made it their life’s mission to preserve, purify and protect South Africa’s water resources. This podcast series is made possible by JoJo – for water, for life.