The River Wye is suffering badly from pollution.
Wildlife in the river – plants, insects and fish – are all declining.
The main cause are phosphates coming from intensive chicken farms along the course of the river.
In Powys alone has more than 150 Intensive Poultry Units (IPUs) housing an estimated 10 million chickens. This is industrial-scale agriculture with over 100,000+ birds at each IPU site.
Recent research by the universities of Lancaster and Leeds suggests that an extra 2,000 tonnes of phosphates a year are being tipped and spread via muck onto land in the Wye catchment area.
Radnorshire Wildlife Trust is calling on the Minister for Rural Affairs (Lesley Griffiths) and the Minister for Climate Change (Julie James) to take urgent action to curb the pollution and save the River Wye.
Please send a message to the Ministers.
For more information about the pollution problems in the River Wye watch the Rivercide video by George Monbiot, with Charlotte Church and Benjamin Zephaniah…
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