parts of the wye. there s a lot of algae. ew, you don t have to go in, it s all slimy. for those who get out on the river regularly, the current state of the wye is having a real impact. ew. we like swimming and jumping offa rock and stuff when everything looked 0k. i think about a year- and a half, maybe two years ago, the whole river went . green in the water. then one of their friends became ill. we all get a bit scared so we kind of stayed on paddle boards rather than going in and accidentally consuming the water. as well as driving people out of the water, pollution from animal and human waste is having a wider impact.
many believe this rapid expansion is causing pollution in the wye. but with poor water quality monitoring across the uk, there is currently no evidence of a direct link. hi, how we doing? scientists here approach the problem from a different angle, looking at how much muck is being produced in the wye catchment. where you have these high areas of intensive livestock production, you end up with too much phosphorus are available in the manure there to go on to the land. they estimate that around seven and a half thousand tonnes of phosphorus gets into the soil around the river wye every year. much of that by spreading muck from poultry farms.
0tters have thrived in parts of the wye, along with other many rare species. it s one of the most protected rivers in britain because of this rich wildlife. all of our rivers in wales are now at risk of extinction from salmon and sea trout. gail has over 20 years experience in the water industry. she says that farming and sewage are having a combined affect. it s much more than that direct species and habitats within the river. so our river is the source of drinking water, it s used by farmers as crop irrigation, it s used to feed cattle. we ve just reach a point where rivers cannot cope any more with how they are being used and what we are putting into them. 0ur agricultural land
jemma works on herfamily farm next to one of the rivers that feeds into the wye, along with her dad they raise cows, sheep and chickens. feeding them keeps gwen busy as does dealing with a mountain of manure. that muck is gathered underneath this barn. so what happens to it then? some of the manure is collected and they are but there s always a bit of runoff. where does it is a go? see the trench there? down that trench there, down through the grid there. there is a manhole there. it holds about 3000 gallons. you see that muck floating on the top of the water? in a month or six weeks, that ll run in. this muck is full of phosphates, vital for growing the crops we need. it goes by tanker, but it s
oh, you don t have to go in, it s all slimy. for those who get out on the river regularly, the current state of the wye is having a real impact. ew. we like swimming and jumping offa rock and stuff when everything looked 0k. i think about a year and a - half, maybe two years ago there the whole river went green in the water. i then one of their friends became ill. we all get a bit scared so we kind of stayed on paddle boards rather than going in and accidentally consuming the water. as well as driving people out of the water pollution from animal and human waste is having a wider impact. we estimate that we ve got