Some more rain in the form of showers forecast and more overnight they say.  Not a great deal of it is in the rivers at present and other than lower temperatures will have done nothing for fish movement.  A few fish are still being found dead on the lower river/   For heavens sake lets and the season for salmon fishing now.

I see too that updated catches by WUF show a couple of the bottom beat had fish in July and August = really?

 Some interesting stuff here from NRW     

 NRW in reply to a letter sent by a friend/   Make of it what you will !!!;

Thank you for your enquiry relating to water quality issues in the River Wye. 

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Officers have attended and confirmed several reports of dead adult Salmon in the River Wye over the past weeks. Investigations to date have been unable to identify any specific pollution events that would result in the observed mortalities. 

It is critical that any pollution incidents you witness are reported to NRW as quickly as possible, giving Officers the best opportunity to respond, prevent damage, and gather evidence. I encourage you to report this via our 24-hour hotline 0300 065 3000 or our website.  Further information on the types of environmental incidents that we deal with and the information we require when reporting an incident can also be found on our website. 

 

The hot, dry weather that Wales has experienced throughout the summer has resulted in low flows throughout the whole of the country, leading to exceptionally high-water temperatures. Fish have little control over their body temperature, the NRW monitoring station at Redbrook consistently recorded temperatures above 25^oc throughout August, this coupled with fluctuations in Dissolved Oxygen in the water places fish under significant physical stress, resulting in mortality if exposed for long periods.

 

Over the period March to August Wales received just 56.7% of the long-term average, this is the third driest period in a record going back to 1865. The River Wye at Redbrook had its lowest flow on record for July, with August flows second lowest on record, comparable to 1976. Due to the low flows and lack of rainfall Monmouthshire and Torfaen Environment Team have shifted significant resource to focus on water resource licences; those that involve removal (abstraction) and storage of water from the environment. Abstractors with restrictions on their licences have had to cease taking water, and considerable effort has been concentrated on inspecting other licence holders to ensure they are complying with all the conditions of their licence to minimise environmental impacts. Additional information on NRW’s response to the dry weather can be found Natural Resources Wales / Dry weather updates with regular updates provided.

 

Monmouth Sewage Treatment Works (STW) has operated within its permit conditions throughout 2022. The permit currently in force at Monmouth STW is nearly 2 decades old and as a result the requirements on the discharge are not as stringent as they would be if it was issued today.

 

The water environment is under significant pressure and NRW have recorded breaches of water quality standards over several years.  You can view the monitoring data for Wales at Water Watch Wales. Further data for parts of the River Wye managed by the Environment Agency, can be found here: Wye MC Management Catchment | Catchment Data Explorer. The links above also show the historic data, and you can see that water quality has for a number of years not achieved the standards set.

 

In addition, NRW recently undertook a review of our phosphorus data against revised tighter targets at all nine of our Special Area of Conservation (SAC) Rivers in Wales (Compliance Assessment of Welsh SACs against phosphorus targets).  We identified extensive phosphorus failures on the Wye and Usk, with 67% and 88% of the water bodies respectively, failing to meet their phosphorus targets.  A more detailed assessment of the Wye is also available in our Compliance Assessment of the River Wye SAC Against Phosphorus Targets report.

 

Nutrient pollution, which includes elements such as phosphorous can be damaging to aquatic ecosystems.  High concentrations of phosphate can contribute to the process of eutrophication and can cause significant ecological damage to rivers including altering the balance of plant species in our rivers.  For example, algal blooms can destabilise oxygen levels and may impact salmon and sea trout through all life stages.

 

NRW seeks to reduce the burden of nutrients entering our rivers and in so doing we need to work with a range of sectors across the catchments.  We are working with Welsh Government, planning authorities, DCWW and the farming sector to develop solutions that will achieve this.  In the short term we have also advised planning authorities to carefully review all proposals for new developments to prevent any increase in nutrient discharges from private and mains sewerage systems or agriculture.  We have issued guidance to all local planning authorities in Wales to facilitate them undertaking assessments into the impact of proposed developments on protected sites (see NRW's advice to planning authorities for planning applications affecting phosphorus sensitive river SACs). We are also working with DCWW to model the sources of phosphate in our SAC catchments so that our actions and funding can better targeted where they will achieve the most environment improvements.

 

NRW strives to achieve water quality improvements in the watercourses throughout Wales. Projects and areas of work which are specifically aimed at the River Wye include;

• We have developed Opportunity Catchments (OC) as priorities for the 3rd River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) cycle with the Central Monmouthshire OC and the Ithon OC including some of the Usk and Wye SACs respectively with a focus on addressing WFD failures.  These will in part tackle excess nutrient issues, but their remit is much wider.
• Following engagement with farming unions, environmental organisations, and other stakeholders, the following catchments of the River Wye; Mithil Brook, Clettwr Brook, Afon Crammarch, Dulas Brook, Triffwrdd Brook, the Llynfi, and the main waterbody between the confluence of the Elan and the Ithon have been prioritised. Landowners within these catchments will receive Advice and Guidance from Farming Connect on measures to prevent diffuse pollution and manage the land in a sustainable manner.
• NRW is developing comprehensive River Restoration Programme where the SAC rivers such as the Wye will be given higher priority.
• In terms of work with the water company there are currently 12 schemes on the Wye SAC in the next round of the Water Company Asset Management Programme (AMP 7) for improvement.  However, these are indicative numbers at this stage in the process and may be subject to change. 
• We have visited all dairy farms in Monmouthshire to check slurry and silage storage and are now working through a programme to ensure that any non-compliant stores are bought up to the standards specified in the regulations.  We are focussing on the high-risk farms, and due to the investment required this programme will be carried out over the next few years.
• NRW also has a statutory responsibility to maintain a regulatory inspection regime, assessing compliance with permits and licences related to discharges, intensive farms, water abstraction, and waste activities amongst others.
• The aforementioned work is being undertaken whilst responding to incidents on a risk basis 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as a category responder.
• Some further information and statistics can be found: Natural Resources Wales / River water quality: our responses to your questions

 

I can assure you that NRW are working hard to address these issues in the context of the resources available to us.  Since NRW was created, it has seen year-on-year reductions in baseline grant in aid from Welsh Government, resulting in an estimated real term reduction of circa £32m (35%) by 2021-22.  We recognise that these cuts have come at a time of austerity within the public sector.  We have faced this challenge through a variety of means, but it has also led to some of our services being reduced.

 

We are committed to delivering real environmental change and improvement; however, we cannot do this alone.  All who operate and live within the catchments have a part to play, and we need to discuss how we design developments and use land, as well as consider what we do in our everyday life that contributes to nutrient levels and physical degradation of our rivers.  Collectively we need to develop and deliver long term, catchment-scale solutions to address the issues of nutrients and wastewater in our rivers.  We need to rethink how we manage nutrients arising from agricultural land and how we treat wastewater as well as how we can establish practical nature-based solutions that can both improve water quality and habitat but also reduce nutrient inputs.

 

I hope the information above reassures you that we recognise water quality issues in the River Wye and working to address them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru / Natural Resources Wales 
Trefynwy / Monmouth