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Study area A: Kowie River in Makana Municipality, Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The Makana Local Municipality Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa supports about 80 390 people. Unlike the NMBM, there are a limited number of employment opportunities available in the cities particularly Grahamstown of the Makana Local Municipality. There is a high level of poverty within the area, with up to 42% of the households without income compared to NMBM.The lack of revenue collection restricts the Municipality from providing local service delivery and Infrastructure such as wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) breakdown. This problem of infrastructure breakdown has resulted in health threatening sewage spills, water shortages, and refuses removal failure. Most of the sewage flow into the Kowie River, which is in Grahamston, a town in Makana Local Municipality. Study Area B: Swartkops River in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM), , Eastern Cape province of South Africa. NMBM supports about 1.2 million people. NMBM encompasses the city of Port Elizabeth and the towns of Uitenhage and Despatch. As the industrial hub of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, there are higher employment rates and access to municipal services. The increasing population and industrial activities have led to the serious pollution of the Swartkops River. The Swartkops River is a popular ecological and social cultural asset and is located within the industrial city of Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage town. The pollution results from burst sewerage pipes, residents dumping in the canal, open canal flows through Motherwell stormwater canal and overloaded Kelven Jones wastewater treatment works.