SOS River Wye

 I went down to the Warren last night after work, because the citizen scientists who have been testing the water of the River Wye and its tributaries were gathering for a big photo opportunity.

Some people had come from the Pride event at the Castle.

One chap brought a coracle:

Others brought the equipment they use to sample the river water:

And here's the whole group of them waving their sampling tubes:

Then everyone took their places on a big SOS that had been marked out on the shingle, while a drone flew overhead to take pictures.  There were 45 people on the first S, 40 on the O (I was on the O), and I didn't hear how many were on the second S but it must have been a similar number.

A flyer was being handed out too, pointing out that existing laws should have protected the river.

This stretch of the River Wye is an SSSI - site of special scientific interest - and yet the statutory bodies are not doing anything to protect it, leaving it to volunteers to test the water.

Meanwhile, in the Golden Valley, residents are going to the Court of Appeal to overturn the Judicial Review decision which enables Herefordshire Council to continue to ignore the law protecting rivers.  They approved a planning application to expand industrial livestock production in the Golden Valley two years ago.  The River Dore flows into the River Wye.  Herefordshire Council did not carry out the Habitat Regulations Assessment before planning permission was granted, as they should have done, and are trying to argue that the River Dore is not within the Wye Catchment area.

If the Golden Valley residents win their case, this will mean that councils across the country will no longer be able to evade their legal duty to do HRAs, which could protect all our rivers.

Going to court, of course, is expensive, so they are crowd funding at https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/herefordshire-river-pollution/