Following pollution of the Widemarsh brook in Hereford a couple of years ago by effluent from the Bulmers/Hieneken factory the company has escaped prosecution by the EA by agreeing to invest in infrastructure to prevent any further incidents. The also paid the EA's £12,000 Legal expenses and £160,000 pounds to the EA for an enforcement undertaking i.e a 'sweetener'.

Now comes the good bit. The cash strapped EA who job it is to protect and restore our river have given £150.000 of this money to the Wye Usk Foundation. This begs the question WHY and just what are WUF going to do with it, We can't of course ask them because they won't tell us. They tell us or you absolutely nothing.
Will it just be absorbed into WUF and used to pay a couple of executive salaries for the year or what.
Anyone and ideas It won't go far in the£500,000 plus wage bill will it.

Full details on page 6 of the Hereford Times 2nd February
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WELL NOW THERE'S A SUPRISE. SEE BELOW. THAT DIDN'T TAKE THEM LONG DID IT.
Seems the money will go into a fund for a soil and water project which, if you note WILL they say;

" which, amongst other things, will improve water quality and biodiversity in Herefordshire and reduce phosphate and soil entering the rivers by improving agricultural practices.

Success before it';s even been done or completed and if its does any of that will it even be detectable?

Wye & Usk Foundation News

7th February 2017

A recent article in the Hereford Times described how the Foundation had become the beneficiary of an "Enforcement Undertaking" by Heineken, the parent company of Bulmers Cider.
What had happened is that in 2016, a quantity of ammonia had been inadvertently tipped into a drain which discharged into the Widemarsh and Yazor brook in Hereford itself. A fish kill resulted, with coarse fish, bullhead and minnows the victims.
The company elected to resolve the problem via an Enforcement Undertaking and paid £10,000 to the Yazor, Widemarsh and Eign Brooks Restoration Project, which were adjacent watercourses as well as £150,000 to WUF to restore the wider catchment. This will be used as part of our £871,000 Soil and Water (SAW) project which, amongst other things, will improve water quality and biodiversity in Herefordshire and reduce phosphate and soil entering the rivers by improving agricultural practices.
Heineken also paid £12,000 by way of costs to the Environment Agency and undertook to spend in the region of £2.5 million up-rating their pollution control. The latter is a really good result as it will significantly reduce the risk of fish kills in the future.
There is obviously considerable merit in resolving these terrible events without recourse to expensive legal proceedings. What is noticeable is how very differently industry is treated compared to equally damaging agricultural or forestry pollutions. It would seem that fines or levied sanctions are based on the ability to pay rather than the damage caused. This rather underscores the potential deterrent effect.
Elsewhere, good news at last: we were beginning to worry that Elan dams would not fill up before demands were made on them in the summer. However, last night's rain did the trick and, as you can see opposite, after four months of just compensation flow the river is now rising and at last the new gravel we introduced to the Elan in September last year will get shifted around the system.
The Booking Office website has an entirely new look which heralds an entirely new system "under the bonnet" making it simpler for anglers to book fishing. The Passport and newsletter are almost ready and you will see that there are new beats on the main Wye and in the Wild Streams section.

Yazor Brook, Hereford. A worthy recipient of funding from Civil Sanctions

To the enormous relief of everyone in the WUF office, the Elan dams have finally overtopped. This normally happens in mid to late November

Above is the new look Booking Office
Perhaps unsurprisingly after last year's salmon catches, sales of Wye season rods have gone well: Wyesham is already full and Gromain/Rectory etc has space for just one or two more. With less than a month to go before the trout and salmon starts, it's a good time to book salmon beats and get your Wild Streams season permits.
Finally, Wye coarse anglers are having a bit of a tough time of it right now with very unsettled conditions. Hopefully there will be a few more productive days for the pike, chub and barbel anglers before the season's close on 14th March.
All the best from WUF.