Living by a ‘dying river’ - how pollution has put the Wye into decline

Now, there's a call for urgent action to improve the health of the River Wye after tests showed a drop in important species like Atlantic salmon and white-clawed crayfish.
It's meant Natural England has downgraded the environmental health of the river to "unfavourable declining".
Conservationists say without significant intervention, the Wye may never recover.
They're calling for a halt to any new intensive farming units in the area - saying manure from poultry is a key reason for the state of the river.

[@jebbo-c1l]

this is what happens when you privatise essential public services. Nationalise the water companies, nationalise the energy companies, nationalise the railways

[@mickeyfilmer5551]

Capitalism at its worst. We need to take back utilities into public ownership and run them as a not for profit organusation for the benefit of all, and the management should not be paid ludicrous salaries, i am not advocating communism, just sensible management of our resources for the good of everyone, with workers paid a living wage, and consumers charged a reasonable price for their commodities. also get rid of standing charges as levied by the gas and electric companies. People should all pay a set rat per KWH for what they use, end of. You don't get on a bus and pay for your journey, plus a set levy for fuel, and insurance, it's a really bad distasteful joke at the moment, and needs to stiop.

[@michaelrch]

And when you license chicken and dairy farming at ever increasing levels with no way of dealing with the waste. Animal ag is a plague on our waterways.

[@wombatdk]

So, where do you stop nationalizing? Nationalize food? Nationalize clothing? Capitalism and profits rule the world. No one cares about pollution, inequality or other such leftard nonsense. Money rules. You treehuggers drool.

[@TC-dy4zr]

@@wombatdk that’s such a sad and horrible mindset of the world. When it comes to nationalisation we want the nationalisation of public services I.e. the water companies, railways and energy companies. Clothing will never be nationalised because let’s face it that’s a bit unrealistic. When it comes to capitalism, it is very obvious that capitalism is failing and only benefits a certain group of people i.e the rich, that has allowed many people in upper classes to escape justice when it comes to the climate crisis. Poorer countries are being seriously effected by climate change first, the rich elite don’t care because they have their many millions and billions to their name so why should they worry and care or have and decent qualities. Will be interesting when things do start getting worse and see how they react once what’s going on in the world starts to effect them. Once again it is people on the wrong side of history and their greed is what’s destroying the very precious and necessary thing that’s keeping us alive.

[@Dylanesque]

It's sad, tragic even, to realise those who support privatisation maintain Nationalisation is Socialist garbage which, disturbingly, includes NHS hospitals. It would seem we're going to die out at the hands of the wealthy and they, in turn, will eventually die at their own hands.

[@grahamkearnon6682]

Those chicken farms need vigilante action nothing less. Ruin the companies.

[@plurabelle5]

Go vegan. All the animal-torturing, environment-polluting, climate-ruining industries.

[@dp0004]

Fit in with nature. We have no other choice. Nature rules everything alive.

[@user-bu9nb8wr6e]

This is just pure greed. We need to take control of all essential services and get farming under control as well. This is a crime against us the people and this is what happens when you put money above all else. So sick of this greed and Sunak and his greedy mob.

[@j.p.9295]

That is most disgusting thing 😒 How can that be allowed 😮

[@willalm830]

such a beutiful river being destroyed

[@TueTonic]

The Developing World will laugh at us if they knew our water companies are the ones polluting our rivers. Water should never have been privatised

[@djhillfinger]

I just paddled the wye from Hereford to the sea and the amount of brown sludge floating on the top was shocking, there was one stretch just below Hereford and you could smell the ammonia in the air

[@WyeExplorer]

I've walked it and swam it for many years and have never seen it so bad. Money clouds everything. It's understandable the need for some family enterprises to make a living and keep doing what they've known but at what cost? And how much profit do they need? Fundamentally though a chicken eater up North knows nothing of the river down here. It's all that cheap meat and the consumers that eat it that need slowing down. The demand mind you is created because the meat is addictive. People are blinded by the fill of it. Lets hope that light (information) can penetrate and that our river Wye can flourish more greatly than the chicken producers and hey the water sellers.

[@3chords490]

Greed , profit , stupidity…….generations to come will shake their heads.

[@simonphelps3680]

When the Water Board was privatised we were told water quality would improve because before privatisation meant the government was essentially suing itself. Private companies would be properly policed. But.. it's only got worse. Private companies should take responsibility for the enormous profits they take and the exorbitant wages their CEOs get for not doing their jobs. Privatisation was a catastrophe.. the free market will never police itself

[@SorminaESar]

Save the earth🙏

[@joe-vl3nd]

The UK 🇬🇧 Governments not fit for purpose..

[@Enochthegreat71]

What happens with license fees from fishing rights to salmon stretches and course fishing? Didn't they notice a decline in salmon numbers? This has been going on for years and now its panic time. What about the wye and usk foundation they seem to charge lots of money for fishing rights?

[@bencollyer2296]

She’s spot on I hope we as a species work together to sort this out

[@robertjones3189]

The Malvern Hills are not in Wales.

[@tobywhitehead7488]

13 years of decline.13 years of the Tories. What a surprise.

[@donaldduck5731]

Agreed but we, or a majority of us voted for them. Why, I have no idea.

[@cosmoray9750]

Shaping the World... kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3-TpYWjqd9geKM

[@polla2256]

Yes, it's almost as if they need a political message

[@SA-ff9uc]

Why?

[@michaelrch]

The main problem is *animal ag* Blame animal farmers and demand for animal products first. Then blame water companies.

[@righteousbyfaithinChrist]

Why no reclamation projects?

[@skateboardscott]

This has been happening for years. It’s only a matter of weeks before everyone forgets and nothing changes.

[@colettespooner225]

Humanity has to evolve and quickly

[@UkSapyy]

It will cost a lot to upgrade our infrastructure, but infrastructure is what makes civilisation. It's about time the British stopped leaning on the efforts of our great grandparents and started doing again. And let's be honest, there is not much left for us to cut. Austerity isn't the solution.

[@Skoda130]

I wonder Wye.

[@dougcarroll9623]

Soon enough there will be nothing to enjoy

[@troywales983]

i made a living from the wye for over 50 years ,ie, a salmon poacher 17years ,a pike fisherman 50years , a eel trapper 8 years elver fisherman 46 years , a pleasure angler 54years , i have seen it change more than most and it started over 30years ago and has gone down fast ,that is why it does not hold many fish , the big shoals of fish have all gone so no food for the system to live on ,and the big weed beds have rotted away that held all the smaller insects life , also the river bed has become silt that no longer hold life ,i once drank out of the river at tintern and came close to death

[@DavidGetling]

When is out CORRUPT government going to outlaw dividends and bonuses to the directors of water companies until they have stopped dumping sewage and fixed leaking water pipes?

[@VOLightPortal]

More reasons to go plant based and ditch poultry and dairy agriculture.

[@alisonwilliams8251]

Farmers are the villains and all that buy into these vile, cruel industries.

[@mikw1809]

Nope, it's the crooked lot you voted for that have allowed it. You got what you voted for, enjoy a nice dip in the sovereign but shitty waters 🙄

[@mikehutchison4892]

13 years of Conservative Govt. and what have they conserved ?…….and YOU elected them !

[@davydacounsellor]

No the poultry farmers have been told by the main chicken processing plant that they, the farmers have to sell their chicken manure which the farmers sold themselves now have to sell their manure to the main chicken processing plant sister company who deal with poultry manure at lower prices, so all this environment BS is just a ruse. Thus the farmers lose out on how they sell their manure, which could be quite easily monitored, but no! Private industry now rule the farmers. It's private industry who is now setting the laws and the whereabouts of profits. Again the government could off quite easily set up a scheme to monitor manure distribution in the Wye area. Follow the money people this has nothing to do with the environment. So you either sell you chicken manure to us the processor or your out of business.

[@janecme]

Phosphates from agriculture have not changed for fifty years, so it's the water companies and their lack of investment who are to blame. That's not to say all farmers are innocent but they get fined heavily for polluting - the water companies don't.

[@mikw1809]

Capitalist greed prioritised over environment and standards. Welcome to the Brexit Sir

[@alisonwilliams8251]

Anyone who supports these vile, cruel industries by buying animal corpses then you are all hypocrites when you complain and are upset.

[@Trytocookthis]

stop pooting in the river.

[@BaronEvola123]

Lies. They want to drain the population and force them into smaller and smaller areas and take every nickel from them. Agriculture=charge as much as you can.

[@israeldiegoriveragenius2th164]

Do not comply. No to vaccine passports, no to mandatory vaccines. No to masks, no to tests, a total disgrace

[@titteryenot4524]

Not again, son! Ffs. Have you never heard of the phrase: “Change the f*cking record!”

[@robertjones3189]

This is what happens when BOTS don’t get a firmware upgrade😅

[@jinlee2617]

On the same note, condoms don't prevent STD, don't wear it!

[@alexander_strachan]

Well, I won't be complying with you.

[@mikehutchison4892]

Cretin. Guess why nobody catches polio these days ?

[@guff9567]

There are many rivers called Wye in UK. Nobody cares about that Welsh one

[@matthewregister6845]

There's literally only 3 and this is the only important one, it's the 4th longest in the UK. The other ones are tiny rivers.

[@polla2256]

God this thread is a bot fest. Can leftists even type these day ?

[@PhukYougoogle-vx2qm]

None of our river can be saved, you won’t stop the farmers using man made pesticides and fertilisers but the biggest problem is the sewage being dumped and that will Never be stopped unless the government take back the running of the water companies and invest in the infrastructure instead of paying shareholders massive dividends ‼️

[@plurabelle5]

You can stop animal agriculture, the worst polluter on earth, if you choose plant-based options over animal flesh and secretions consistently. It's already happening, these industries are on the verge of bankruptcy. The end of animal agriculture will solve so many problems - climate change, pandemics, human health, animal suffering, antibiotic resistance, environmental pollution and so on. Far more animal waste is dumped into seas and rivers than human waste.

[@davidgill8996]

This is what happens when you vote Tory.