Gqeberha’s distinctive coastal seeps are likely one of the reasons why the region became the global springboard for early modern humans, and 120,000 years later they have been flagged as the “canary in the coal mine” for critical groundwater resource in the area.

That is the main thrust of a Water Research Commission-funded study, undertaken by a Nelson Mandela University (NMU) team, in partnership with the SA Environmental Observation Network and the Council for Geoscience...