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I walked along the River Wye this summer with a friend – and had to warn her not to dip her feet in the water. The risk of infection or sickness from pollution was too great.
It’s tragic that we’ve reached this point.
I’ve lived close to the Wye for years and watched it change from a sparkling, life-filled river into something visibly sick.
Another friend of mine, who’s been angling there for decades, told me fish numbers have dropped by around 60 per cent in the last two years. I checked the figures and he’s right. This is not a phantom crisis.
Now, nearly 4,000 people have joined the biggest environmental lawsuit in UK history – accusing major poultry producers and Welsh Water of “extensive and widespread pollution” in the Wye, Lugg and Usk rivers. I am surrounded by filth.
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The claimants – including local residents, anglers, swimmers and wildlife enthusiasts – say pollution from chicken farms, sewage spills and farm run-off has devastated the rivers, driving away fish, killing off aquatic life and harming local businesses.
Wildlife filmmaker Justine Evans, acting as the lead claimant, says the Wye she once loved for canoeing and swimming has turned murky and slimy.
Slimy is exactly the word I would use for it!
Former Olympic swimmer Roland Lee, who moved to be near the river, now warns people not to touch it.
The case, brought by the law firm Leigh Day, targets Avara Foods, Freemans of Newent and Welsh Water. They deny wrongdoing – Avara claiming it is being misunderstood, and Welsh Water saying it has already spent more than £100 million improving sites along the Wye and Usk.
But residents – like myself – are sceptical.
The Wye, once one of the United Kingdom’s most beautiful and biologically diverse rivers, is now a symbol of government failure – and of what happens when corporate pollution goes unchecked for too long.
Environmental campaigners lost a major court challenge over the Wye last year.
Now, with both Westminster and Cardiff Bay governments only just setting aside £1 million to “investigate” pollution sources, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that official action will be too little, too late.
Let’s remember it was the Tory governments of 2010-24 that allowed the pollution to happen, and Tory governments of the 1980s-90s that privatised water and sewage, making it possible in the first place.
Living near the Wye today, it is easy to feel despair – but also anger.
The river wasn’t poisoned overnight.
It was neglected and ignored.
And if this lawsuit doesn’t succeed, the generations to come will see it less as a river than as a flowing cess pool.
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Thousands sue over river pollution – but is it already too late?
Share this post:
I walked along the River Wye this summer with a friend – and had to warn her not to dip her feet in the water. The risk of infection or sickness from pollution was too great.
It’s tragic that we’ve reached this point.
I’ve lived close to the Wye for years and watched it change from a sparkling, life-filled river into something visibly sick.
Another friend of mine, who’s been angling there for decades, told me fish numbers have dropped by around 60 per cent in the last two years. I checked the figures and he’s right. This is not a phantom crisis.
Now, nearly 4,000 people have joined the biggest environmental lawsuit in UK history – accusing major poultry producers and Welsh Water of “extensive and widespread pollution” in the Wye, Lugg and Usk rivers. I am surrounded by filth.
The claimants – including local residents, anglers, swimmers and wildlife enthusiasts – say pollution from chicken farms, sewage spills and farm run-off has devastated the rivers, driving away fish, killing off aquatic life and harming local businesses.
Wildlife filmmaker Justine Evans, acting as the lead claimant, says the Wye she once loved for canoeing and swimming has turned murky and slimy.
Slimy is exactly the word I would use for it!
Former Olympic swimmer Roland Lee, who moved to be near the river, now warns people not to touch it.
The case, brought by the law firm Leigh Day, targets Avara Foods, Freemans of Newent and Welsh Water. They deny wrongdoing – Avara claiming it is being misunderstood, and Welsh Water saying it has already spent more than £100 million improving sites along the Wye and Usk.
But residents – like myself – are sceptical.
The Wye, once one of the United Kingdom’s most beautiful and biologically diverse rivers, is now a symbol of government failure – and of what happens when corporate pollution goes unchecked for too long.
Environmental campaigners lost a major court challenge over the Wye last year.
Now, with both Westminster and Cardiff Bay governments only just setting aside £1 million to “investigate” pollution sources, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that official action will be too little, too late.
Let’s remember it was the Tory governments of 2010-24 that allowed the pollution to happen, and Tory governments of the 1980s-90s that privatised water and sewage, making it possible in the first place.
Living near the Wye today, it is easy to feel despair – but also anger.
The river wasn’t poisoned overnight.
It was neglected and ignored.
And if this lawsuit doesn’t succeed, the generations to come will see it less as a river than as a flowing cess pool.
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