Lakes where most fish are male; drinking water that causes people to lose skin and feel as if their mouths are burning when they brush their teeth — these are just some of the effects of contaminated water in sub-Saharan Africa.
Yet across the continent, weak government oversight and economic dependence means polluters have yet to be held to account. Drug companies, garment makers, oil producers and coal miners have so far dodged the bullet. This breaks a cardinal rule of environmental law — the principle that the polluter pays.
In East Africa, Lake Victoria, the second largest freshwater lake in the world, is producing about 120 000 metric tonnes of fish annually compared with the 180 000 produced in 2010, according to statistics from Kenya Marine and Fisheries Institute.
Scientists are linking the dwindling fish population in the lake to pharmaceutical waste. The pharmaceutically active compounds, also known as endocrine disrupting hormones, interfere with the physiological frameworks of aquatic organisms, with fish species more profoundly affected.
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