Good News for the River Wye

 The River Wye has become the first river in Wales to receive a charter of rights to protect it.

There was a ceremony at the Warren and the charter has been endorsed by councils, campaigners and environmental groups along the length of the river.  Councillor Elissa Swinglehurst of Herefordshire Council helped to create the charter, and other signatories are the Forest of Dean Council, Bannau Brycheiniog National Park and the Wye Valley National Landscape.  Powys County Council and Monmouthshire Council were also represented at the ceremony.

The charter gives the river the following rights:

The right to flow and perform natural functions

The right to biodiversity

the right to be free from pollution

the right to be supported by a healthy catchment area

the right to regenerate

the right to representation

Ecologist Dr Louise Bodnor was appointed as the official Voice of the Wye in April 2025, and sits in meetings of Herefordshire County Council's Wye Catchment Nutrient Management Board, where she has the right to vote on behalf of the river.

The charter comes at a time when the river's health has been officially downgraded to "unfavourable - declining" by Natural England, and the court case brought by Leigh Day is in the High Court, seeking to hold Avara Foods and Welsh Water responsible for the increase in pollution in the river.  

River Wye Pollution Case Reaches the High Court

 This morning there was a piece on the Today programme on Radio 4 about a legal case that has just reached the High Court.  There's also an article on the BBC news website.

Leigh Day are suing Avara Foods, who have intensive chicken rearing sheds in the Wye catchment area, and Welsh Water, who have failed to keep the pollution from chicken manure out of the river and have also been releasing sewage into the river themselves.  About 24 million chickens are reared in the catchment area, a quarter of all the chickens in the UK.

This is supposed to be the biggest environmental pollution case ever brought in British courts, as over 4,500 people who live and work along the river have signed up to be part of the action. 

Evidence of the river's declining water quality has been collected over several years by citizen scientists testing the water, and Natural England rated the condition of the river as "unfavourable - declining" in 2023.  There was also a big local campaign to make the Warren into an official bathing area, so that the water had to be officially tested, but it seems to have made very little difference to the pollution.

Supporters of the action turned up at Court this morning with the giant puppet Goddess of the Wye.

 Here's the picture from Paul Powlesland's blog (he's a London campaigner for clean rivers and a barrister).

 

Citizen Scientists Testing the Waters

 An article in the Hereford Times has paid tribute to the over 500 citizen scientists who have been testing the waters of the River Wye for pollution levels over the past few years.  By now they have taken something like 50,000 samples!

It started with anglers from the Wye Salmon Association who were concerned about the water quality in the river, and expanded to other groups along the river like Friends of the River Wye and CPRE Herefordshire.

There is now a combined database available to view, created by one of the members of Friends of the River Wye, at WyeViz (the Wye Viz Wye Alliance Citizen Science dashboard).  100,000 people have visited the site so far.

Citizen scientists and their groups are also calling for the government to do more to clean up the river.  The main problem along the Wye is agricultural run-off.  A recent Welsh Government report (www.gov.wales on Control of Agricultural Pollution) says that only 41% of farmers are compliant with the environmental regulations, and they are visiting farms and sending out warning letters and enforcement notices, but there's still a lot more that could be done, if the funding and staffing levels were better.

The number of citizen scientists involved shows just how much local people love their river - and for every citizen scientist there are more people who love the river but can't get involved in that way.

From the article: "Andrew McRobb from CPRE Herefordshire said: “We started doing this monitoring because the agencies told us that they were lacking data. We’ve delivered data in spades and they need to act on it. Over five years of sterling work by volunteer citizen scientists has delivered evidence for the agencies and governments and led the way to the government funding a long overdue comprehensive Wye Catchment Plan. We can identify the problems, but only the government agencies can enforce the actions necessary to deliver real change”."

 

Charter of Rights for the River Wye

 Following on from yesterday's post, there's a new article in the Hereford Times today with some good news for the River Wye.

Herefordshire County Council have voted to put in place a charter to protect the river.

It grants the river:

the right to flow and maintain it's natural course (so no digging to make it flow in a man made channel)

the right to biodiversity

the right to be free from pollution (this one is going to be hard to enforce!)

the right to be supported by a healthy catchment feeding it (so extending the protections to tributaries)

the right to regenerate through natural processes, supported by intervention where necessary

the right to be represented and have its rights recognised.

Councillor Swinglehurst said she hoped that other local authorities would support the charter, and  would “find a place in schools and village halls, parish councils, environmental campaign groups, businesses and homes”. 

It's unclear how much legal protection that the charter would give the river, but it is a clear statement of intent, and signals the importance that the Council places on the river.  So maybe it will be one of the factors that the Environmental Agency takes into consideration when deciding how to best protect the river with a legal framework. 

Latest News on the River Wye

 The Environment Agency have recently unveiled their Diffuse Water Pollution Plan for the River Wye.  It took ten years to write, during which time, pollution of the river has only got worse.

Campaigners who have been trying to get the Wye cleaned up (also for years) are, to put it mildly, disappointed.  The spokeswoman for the Voice of the River Wye, Louise Bodnar, describes the scheme as "a death warrant for the Wye" and calls for a Water Protection Zone for the Wye and its catchment area.  The Environment Agency looked at the potential use of a Water Protection Zone, which gives legal protections to the river, for the River Lugg back in 2011, and it still hasn't happened.  More recently, MP Ellie Chowns asked for the same thing for the River Wye in Parliament.

The main cause of pollution for the River Wye is agricultural, and there are farmers who have been involved in the consultations that want to improve the quality of the river water, but  the campaigners say that, even if every farmer complied with the regulations 100%, and there was a huge takeup of voluntary measures, this would still not be enough to clean up the river.  And of course there is only limited funding available.

Save the Wye chair David Gillam is equally scathing.  "How can it possibly take ten years to produce such a pathetic plan?" he asks.

River Action's head of legal team Dearnaley says: "After a court ruling and ten years to act, continued reliance on measures that have already failed is indefensible."

The Environment Agency responded to the criticism by issuing a statement saying that the problems of the River Wye are complex (we knew that ten years ago).

Herefordshire Council, meanwhile, have been doing their best to solve the problem.  They brought together farmers, land owners, environmental groups and industry experts to look at innovative new solutions to help protect and restore the river and its tributaries.  They also hosted a special conference in November, alongside national government partners and agencies, including the Nutrient Management Board, to look at ways to improve water quality. 

I hope the New Year brings positive changes for the River Wye - after all, a lot of people have been campaigning for a long time for improvements, and it's about time the Environment Agency listened to them. 

[Information from the Hereford Times] 

Leigh Day reaches the High Court

 The legal firm Leigh Day have been collecting claimants for a case against the polluters of the River Wye for a couple of years now, and they've finally reached the High Court, with almost 4,000 people involved in the claim.

The case is that Avara Foods and Freemans of Newent (with their industrial chicken production) and Welsh Water (responsible for sewage) are polluting the River Wye, the River Lugg, and their tributaries.  Welsh Water is also being blamed for pollution in the River Usk.

They have all denied the claims.

Now they've reached the stage where the defendants must submit their responses to the claim to the High Court, and unless there is an out of court settlement, or the case is struck out, it will proceed to a civil trial.

The claimants have all made allegations against the companies - they are people who live near the chicken farms, sewage works, or have riverfront properties, and people who have businesses that depend on tourism and recreation on the river.  They are claiming damages, and want the companies to restore the rivers to their previous healthy condition.  

The river now has an ecological status of "unfavourable - declining" according to Natural England, when it used to be one of the cleanest rivers in the country.  They have been monitoring the river, and report declines in the numbers of salmon, white-clawed crayfish and macrophytes, which are aquatic plants.  Natural England attributes the decline to sewage discharge, agricultural practices and climate change.  At the moment, they are working with other local bodies like Herefordshire Council and the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust to put together a Nutrient Management Plan, in particular to reduce phosphates in the water.

The court will hear evidence from experts, including the campaign groups that have been monitoring the pollution in the river with volunteer citizen scientists, like the Friends of the Upper Wye. 

(information gathered from the Brecon and Radnor Express, Natural England, and Facebook posts from Leigh Day and others) 

Wye Pilgrimage

 I realised that I hadn't put my photos on the blog yet, of the procession of Our Lady of the Wye on Friday.

After a short Mass at St Mary's Church, the statue was carried through the town to the canoe landing stage, where it was lashed to two canoes (which were already lashed together) for the trip down to Whitney as the first stage of the pilgrimage.

Here's Father Richard, who had the original idea for the pilgrimage.

 

And there they are, about to set off down river.  The banner says "Save The Wye".

The river is very low, after a summer with very little rain. 

Voyage of Our Lady of the Wye

 The statue of Our Lady of the Wye is making its way downriver again, partly as a pilgrimage and partly as a protest against the pollution of the River Wye.

Proceedings begin on Friday August 15th, with a church service at St. Mary's at 10am, followed by a procession through the town to the launch point near Hay Bridge.

On the first day, the pilgrimage will get to Whitney-on-Wye.

On the second day, they get as far as Moccas, to be greeted by Gregorian chant by the monks of Belmont Abbey (with wine and canapes).

The third day sees a Patronal Mass at St. Mary's at 11am, and Evensong at 6pm with Bishop Frome and the Amici choir.

On Monday 18th, the statue sets off from Bredwardine Bridge, to arrive at Hereford Cathedral in time for Evensong at 5.30pm, followed by a party at Old Chapel.

And on the final day, they go from Hereford Cathedral to Hoarwithy, where there will be Evensong at 6.30pm with the Ross Parish Church Choir. 

Is A River Alive?

 I think the answer is definitely "Yes!", after listening to Robert Macfarlane talk yesterQday afternoon.  I'd bought the ticket before I'd had any idea I'd be moving house, and I wasn't going to waste it.

Rob Macfarlane was being interviewed by Horatio Clare, who is very good at interviewing - and it helps that they are already friends.  The new book - Is A River Alive? - is his most personal yet, and he spent five years travelling around the world to write it, featuring rivers in Ecuador,  Quebec and Chinnai in India (which used to be Madras, when it was famed for its rivers).  

He started off by introducing a third entity on stage - he had spent the morning at the Warren, and brought back a flask of Wye water.  He spoke quite a bit about the Wye, including the information that there is a new post in Herefordshire Council specifically to be the Voice of the Wye, so that the needs of the river are represented at an official level.  Given the sad state of the river (it's not so long ago that you could paddle without slipping on slimy green weed at the Warren), this is much needed.

He also talked about chalk streams, in the south of England where he lives, and the desperate state they are in.

But he also mentioned signs of hope - a river system in the Pacific North West of America which was dammed in the 1920s has recently had the last dam removed - and the salmon are already coming back to spawn there, in what was once one of the most important salmon rivers on that coast.

River Wye Legal Action

 This was all happening just as I went away on holiday, so I've only just been able to get to it.

Leigh Day, who are pursuing legal action against Avara, Cargill and Freemens of Newent, have added Welsh Water to their list as a co-defendent.

The claim relates to the pollution that Welsh Water are responsible for, which includes sewage discharges into the river.  The other defendants are being pursued for discharge from the many big chicken sheds in the Wye Valley. 

The first step for Welsh Water is to send them an official letter, which they have yet to reply to.  The other companies got their letters last year. They deny the allegations.

Welsh Water themselves have estimated that 23% of the phosphorus in the river comes from their own waste water treatment works, and they have been successfully prosecuted by the Environmental Agency for discharging too much waste water into the Wye in 2020 and 2021.

The campaign is supported by the campaign group River Action .

On the evening of Thursday 20th February, Leigh Day are holding an event at the Left Bank in Hereford so that members of the community can talk to the legal team.

Between Christmas and New Year

 

Meanwhile, in the quiet space between the festivities, someone near the river bank is reading....

Phosphates: Too Much of a Good Thing?

 I went to St Mary's to watch the film about phosphates the other night.  About 20 or so people were there.  

The people who made the film had originally made a film about COP26, the climate summit in Glasgow, and on the strength of this West Country Voices in Somerset asked them to make a film about their main environmental concern - the build up of phosphates in the Somerset Levels.

They did a lot of investigation.  They visited a sewage treatment works in Wincanton, which is now removing phosphates from the water - previously the phosphates just went straight through to the river.  There was an organic farm that produces biogas - they use the waste products from livestock, and also buy in stuff like scrap bread from supermarkets.  Apparently 50% of bread in this country goes to waste, which is a whole other problem in itself.

They talked about the back up in the planning system, since applications have to show that they can deal with the extra phosphates from human waste when they are building new houses.

And they had some good footage of Our Lady of the Wye being paddled down the river on the pilgrimage that Father Richard organised.

The question and answer session after the film was very interesting too - there were several people in the room who knew a lot about the subject.  One chap said that the discharge of phosphates into the Wye used to be about 50/50 from sewage and agriculture.  Now all the sewage plants along the Wye have phosphate strippers, so the balance has gone to 17% sewage and 83% agriculture, but the total level of phosphates has risen because of people like Cargill not dealing with their waste products.

The point was also made that phosphates are a valuable resource that is being wasted by being washed into the rivers and out to sea.  There are places where more phosphates are needed to grow crops - and the stuff being wasted, and polluting the rivers, could have a use in agriculture instead.

Meanwhile in government, a few years ago, a rule was made that there had to be a balance of nutrients going into farms compared to the output of the farms, so the farmers didn't use more than was needed to grow the crop.  However, Therese Coffey, the government minister in charge at the time, decided that this would place an unfair burden on farmers, so the Environment Agency didn't have to enforce it.

Someone said that it would be a very good thing if people started writing to their MPs to get that ruling enforced.

So there are lots of solutions to the problem, if the will is there to make the investments, and to enforce the regulations that already exist.

Film about Phosphates

 I ran into Father David this morning outside the Cozy Cafe, and he told me about a short film that he's hosting at St Mary's Church on Thursday 31st October at 7.30pm.

It's only half an hour long, and it's about the problems with phosphates which are used as fertiliser on farmers' fields and then washed into the rivers, causing pollution.

Most of the film is about the Somerset Levels, but they also mention Our Lady of the Waters and the pilgrimage begun by Father Richard.  As well as the footage of the first pilgrimage, they have contributions from scientists, farmers, businesses, and concerned individuals.

This isn't just a problem in the UK, of course - it's global, because of modern farming techniques, and until those techniques are changed, the problem will only get worse.

Entry is free, refreshments will be available, and there will be a Q&A session after the film.

Missing Heron Found!

 The wooden sculpture of a heron, which disappeared from the Riverside Walk about three months ago, has been found!  It was floating in the river about five miles downstream from Hay, and was found by a local angler.  It has lost its beak, but it might be possible to restore it, and return it to the Riverside Walk - where a new heron has been installed to replace it.

Latest River Test Results

 The latest news I've had on test results for pollution in the River Wye is that the Warren is safe for swimming at the moment.

 https://www.facebook.com/share/v/UX99tHiJDY4Be2Ba/

I hope the link works - this is a short video of the procession from St Mary's Church to the River Wye canoe landing stage to launch the statue of Our Lady of the Waters on the first stage of her trip down the Wye.

(I'm afraid it's a copy and paste job after all - sorry)

 

The morning started with Mass in the church, followed by the procession.  There was a brief moment of confusion when one of the bearers for the statue forgot to turn up (!) but a substitute was quickly found.  

Catherine Kramer sang a hymn under the bridge, and then the statue was securely lashed to two canoes, and launched into the river, with a small support boat that had the words Save the Wye on the sail. 

I have to say that some of the comments under the Facebook post are quite ignorant.  The statue is not "more junk ending up in the ocean".  It will be taken back to St Mary's to be used again at the end of the pilgrimage.  I don't see how another commenter could say that St Mary's was not a family church any more when they later said they never go near it - how do they know what it is like if they never go?

Also, not all the people in the procession are committed Christians, but some people were there because they are concerned about the pollution of the River Wye, which this pilgrimage is designed to highlight.  I was with a friend, and I was explaining the service to her as we went, because she is not a church goer.

Just a final word on the hymn that we were singing - the chorus was fine.  We all got "Ave Maria".  But some of the verses neither rhymed nor scanned, so they were quite difficult to sing!

Launching Our Lady of the Waters Again

 I'm back from Glasgow WorldCon.  I had a brilliant time and since several people have asked me to share photos, they will be coming just as soon as I can sort them out.

The first person I bumped into when I got back to Hay was Elena.  I'd literally stepped off the last bus home, dumped my bags and gone up to Spar to get milk.  She told me that St Mary's is holding a big event on Thursday morning.

Our Lady of the Waters, the wooden statue that was the focus of a pilgrimage down the River Wye, is being launched again.  She is being taken from Hay via Bredwardine and Moccas to Hereford, in a call to action against the pollution of the River Wye.  Thursday has been chosen because it is the Feast of the Assumption, an important day in the Marian calendar (when the Virgin Mary was taken up bodily to Heaven).

The timetable is as follows: 

8.30am    Mass at St Mary's

9am        procession from St Mary's to Hay Bridge

9.30am    launch at Hay Bridge

4pm        arrival at Bredwardine (with musicians playing Bridge over Troubled Waters)

5 - 6pm    tea at Moccas village hall (£10 prior booking required - tickets from Rachel Jenkins on 01981                 500726)

6.30 - 7.30pm    Gregorian chant by the monks of Belmont Abbey at Moccas Church

The following day, the statue sets off again from Bredwardine to Hereford starting at 9am, arriving at Hereford Cathedral in time for 5.30pm Evensong in the Lady Chapel.

On August 17th, the statue will be taken in procession to All Saints Church for coffee and cake between 10 and 11am, after which the statue will continue down the river to Hoarwithy Church for Evensong at 5.30pm.

"Do Not Swim!"

 

Here are the signs that have just been put up on the Warren.  

With the news that the Warren had been granted bathing status came the requirement that the water was tested by the local authority - and they have immediately discovered that there is bacteria in the water which makes it unsafe for bathing.

Hopefully, they will now do something about it, by which I mean finding the source of the bacteria and stopping it from coming into the river, not just putting signs up.

Some people have been continuing to swim anyway, but it is at their own risk, now that they know the dangers.  Just off this picture to the left were some people sunbathing on the beach, and a couple of people paddling - and I passed a very wet dog on the path on the way down.

There were two pairs of swans on the river too, which is more than I've seen for a long time.

Leigh Day Legal Action

 Adverts have been appearing on Facebook for a while now publicising the legal action that Leigh Day, the law firm, want to take against the chicken farms causing pollution on the River Wye.

They were also at Hay Festival talking to people about it, and I had a good chat with them there.

On Friday evening they held a meeting in the Globe in Hay, one of a series of local meetings they'd been holding all week across Herefordshire.

Doors opened at 5pm, but the speakers didn't start until 6.30pm, so I had a good chat with Françoise and Carolyn, and some very nice cake that had been laid on for the meeting.

Leigh Day is a firm that specialises in environmental legal cases, and they have been doing this since the 1980s.  They believe that the law is a tool that can be used for positive social change.

One of their big cases was against Shell in the Niger Delta, where they helped the local community to bring an action against Shell for pollution, and took them back to court when they failed to clean up the local water supply when the judgement had been that they should do that.  Another case they worked on was against a Zambian copper mine, but in this case the copper mine cleaned up their act as soon as liability was proved against them.

In recent years they've shifted their focus to the UK, and in particular the water companies, and the consistant failure by the regulators and government to hold them to account for the sewage and pollution in our rivers.  A recent court success was that planning applications now have to include a climate impact assessment.

The way it works is that the firm organises a group litigation, on a no win - no fee basis.  If the case is won, then Leigh Day take a proportion of the damages to cover their costs.  If they lose, they will have taken out insurance which will cover the cost - and the fact that the insurance company is willing to take out a policy means that they think the case has a good chance of success.  Each person who signs up to be a part of the case is represented individually, but all the cases are heard together.  When damages are awarded, this is a deterrent to the companies - if they have to make a big pay out because of their actions, they should be less likely to do it again.  

In this case Cargill, one of the companies involved, have been shown to have done the same thing on the Oklahoma River in the USA that they are now doing on the River Wye, so there is a body of evidence already in existance to support the River Wye claim.  Cargill is an equal shareholder in Avara in the UK.  Someone said that the Cargill family are the richest people in the world, which isn't quite true, but they're certainly up there with the top billionaires.  So they can afford to clean up after themselves.

The representatives of Leigh Day invited a couple of local speakers.  One was Oliver Bullough, who talked about the plan he's been involved with to gain bathing status for the Warren.  Testing the water has now started, and the Welsh government has to publish the findings.  The Friends of the River Wye (including the Friends of the River Lugg) are considering the possibilities of extending bathing status to Glasbury and Rhayader, too.

The other speaker is the owner of Black Mountain View caravan park, near Lower House Farm close to Hay.  Which used to be a nice place to stay until the chicken shed was erected.  Now they have to deal with the smell of the chicken manure and flies, and the fans in the chicken sheds making a noise constantly.  They are also worried about the streams that feed into the River Wye, where there are white clawed crayfish and newts, which are supposed to be protected species.

They have fishing rights along a stretch of the River Wye, and this used to be quite busy, but now only a handful of fishermen come, and they say they never catch anything, and there's been at least one case of a dog getting sick after it had been in the river.  

The speaker (Dave? I think) had all the facts and figures about the failures of the planning process with Powys County Council over a number of years.

 Later in the evening, a member of the audience spoke as well.  He turned out to be the Labour candidate who stood against Jesse Norman in the general election - he's also a teacher.  He ran the length of the river to raise awareness of the pollution, and was surprised to find how many people have no idea that there is a problem.

In the Question and Answer session, they explained who could join the claim.  It's people like the owner of Black Mountain View caravan park, of course, and any other businesses that have suffered damage because of the pollution, but also anyone who uses the river for recreation - or who used to go swimming or kayaking or fishing, but no longer do.  

Even before the claim has been brought, the Avara management has been talking about their management of manure from the chicken sheds, presumably in an effort to appear to be doing the right thing.

Someone asked about why the focus was on chicken farms, and they explained that the population of Herefordshire has remained fairly constant over the last few years, and the amount of agricultural run-off has likewise been fairly constant - so what's changed to pollute the river?  And the answer is an explosion of chicken farms, which have been given planning permission without any thought as to the cumulative effect of so many of them.  They also need to make clear that it isn't the farmers they are taking action against - it's the big companies that the farmers are working for.

Civil law does not require the same amount of proof as scientific proof (the citizen scientists were mentioned for the good work they are doing in testing the water regularly and building up a body of evidence on the phosphate levels).  In court they only need to prove something on the balance of probability, so that it is likely that chicken farms are the main culprit without having to trace the pollution back directly to their door.  And even if Avara say they are complying with all the regulations, the problem still exists, and it is something that they should have to do something about.

A judgement against Avara would include damages for past loss, but also injunctions to prevent future loss - so they would have to work to clean up the mess they have made, and make sure that they don't cause a mess in future.

One recent development that may be helpful is that people can now sue the water companies for discharging sewage into the rivers, which only happened about two weeks ago.

The meeting ended with a short film called Fish Boy, by Rivers that Dance, about a theatrical presentation for schools about a boy who is friends with a fish, and when the fish disappears, he goes on a journey to find out why, and finds out all about the pollution of the river.

So Leigh Day needs as many people as possible to come forward to be part of the claim.  The leaflet I picked up only has a QR code to contact them, which I can't reproduce here, but I found their website at: 

https://www.leighday.co.uk/forms/river-wye-join-the-claim/

Roadshow for the River Wye

 The law firm Leigh Day are staging talks around Herefordshire all this week.  They have plans to bring a law suit to clean up the pollution in the River Wye, and they want to know what local people think about it, and how the state of the river affects them and their businesses.

The roadshow will be visiting the Globe in Hay on Friday 12th July.  Doors open at 5pm, and the talk itself gets going at 6.30pm.

Yesterday they were in Dingestow Village Hall.

This evening they're at the Left Bank Village in Hereford.

Tomorrow evening they're at Goodrich Village Hall

On Thursday, starting from 5.30pm, they're at Grange Court, Leominster, and on Friday they're here in Hay.

Finally, on Sunday, they'll be at Penybont and District Community Centre from 12 noon to 4pm.