Gwent Angling Society

@huw4ogmore (Cabinet Secretary Climate Change & Rural Affairs Wales): “I have asked my officials to review the broader regulatory regimes governing the spreading of all types of organic material... We will also be looking closely at implementation of anaerobic digestion in Wales"

And there we have it folks. It’s good news for all those groups and campaigners who have been raising agricultural pollution on the #Wye up the political agenda. The message has certainly got through in Wales.

Thank you for your support FiW!

Fast forward to 2023 and they’re changing their tune. In November, @NatResWales confirmed to us that 7 out of 43 Wye waterbodies in Wales have DETERIORATED on key measures of river health – such as levels of phosphate pollution - linked to... you guessed it… agriculture.

No evidence of environmental damage they said, relying on their own data from 2009 to 2015. @WWFCymru @RiverActionUK @AnglingTrust @angling_times @GlassJet @MartinSBowler

In June 2020, we first notified @NatResWales that environmental damage was being caused to the river Wye by intensive poultry units in Wales. We notified them again in 2021, following successive years of algal blooms starting high up in the Wye catchment.

Natural Resources Wales - and @PowysCC planners for that matter - are responsible for making sure that polluting activities in Wales do not damage #RiverWye protected wildlife. They are the Competent Authorities, apparently.

💥NEW | We started 2024 by referring Natural Resources Wales to the environmental assessor in Wales for failing in its practical delivery of the law to protect the RIVER WYE. It’s a key step for us in a long campaign to force @NatResWales to do its job. A thread...⬇️🧵

It was a legal case that exposed why - in England - the Government has little hope of meeting its legal targets for river health by 2027. We’re now doing the same in Wales. Want to keep up-to-date with our legal actions? You can sign-up for news here: dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/510835/9…

We have told the interim assessor that #NaturalResourcesWales is failing to deliver on the law to protect and restore the #RiverWye.

Following the UK’s exit from the EU, Wales has an Interim Environmental Protection Assessor to provide oversight of the workings of environmental law in Wales. There isn’t a fully functioning office for environmental protection in Wales yet, but that’s for another day.

All along we have said that @NatResWales should have been properly monitoring, investigating and then acting to tackle agricultural pollution affecting the River Wye. Worse than that, we say they’ve applied the wrong standards in law and in practice.

It’s clear to us that @NatResWales STILL don’t have a handle on how poultry manure and digestate being produced and spread in the Wye catchment in Wales is affecting the river.

We’ve marked the waterbodies on a map because you‘ll struggle to find this information published elsewhere. There was no big announcement.

3/3 The evidence is there. Welsh rivers need protection from the AD industry. If commitments to better water quality are to be taken seriously, we need more than silence from @WelshGovernment on this issue. More here: bit.ly/3pQbcFv

2/3 The very same day the letter was sent, there were reports of another AD-related pollution from the #Teifi. And @NatResWales assessments are now showing possible downgrades in 4 waterbodies in the upper Wye catchment where digestate spreading takes place.

1/3 The anaerobic digestion (AD) industry has a long record of river pollution in Wales and elsewhere in the UK. On March 9th we and @FishLegal_ called on @WelshGovernment to review the weak regulation that allows AD to damage rivers. We have heard nothing since.

The Welsh Government has now paused 12 planning applications for poultry farms/factories in Powys. All eyes on Minister Julie James and what she decides to do. Important story here from @ElganHearnLDR countytimes.co.uk/news/23599930.…

Herefordshire Wye already above 20°C. Looks like the storms & slightly increased flows have knocked back the algae. Probably temporarily given dry and sunny outlook.

We are hosting our annual open day on Saturday 10th June (this Saturday). For details please click below. All welcome. gwentanglingsociety.co.uk/2023/04/28/gwe…