Johannesburg’s ‘Rotten-Egg’ Odor Persists as Monitors Log Hydrogen Sulphide Spikes

Overview

• Residents in parts of Sandton, Randburg, Roodepoort and Fourways reported the sulphur-like stench continuing since the weekend.
• City monitors recorded short-term hydrogen sulphide peaks of about 36–37 ppb at Alexandra and sulphur dioxide around 52 ppb, which officials say are below levels typically linked to significant health risks.
• The Air Quality Management Unit says temperature inversions and easterly to south-easterly winds likely carried plumes from the Highveld industrial complex over Johannesburg.
• The city is still analyzing dispersion data, has not ruled out a local source, and says provincial and national environmental departments have escalated the matter.
• Authorities advise residents to stay indoors and limit strenuous outdoor activity, with longstanding PM2.5 records in Jabavu exceeding 300 µg/m³ compared with the WHO’s 75 µg/m³ daily guideline and research linking such pollution to about 16,000 deaths a year in Gauteng.