Pollution in Welsh rivers is ‘suffocating the sea’, campaigners say

The pollution of rivers in Wales affects the marine environment and “suffocates our sea”, warned activists.

WWF Cymru said that excessive nutrients from agriculture and wastewater led to the growth of algae flowers, stifling the seabed.

New assessments of the state of protected areas along the Welsh coast, published by Environment Watchdog Natural Resources Wales (NRW), reveal several sites suffering from nutrient pollution with more than half of the species and habitats evaluated in all areas in an unfavorable state.

The Welsh government has said that reports would provide “critical information” to help improve the marine environment.

NRW had previously confirmed that seven of the most protected nine rivers in Wales – known as the Special Conservation Zone or Rivières Bag – failed targets of water quality due in part to high levels of nutrients.

Drafts of runoff and suspension of agricultural land, wastewater discharges and industry pollution all contributed to the problem.

The situation has already led to limits fixed on the construction of houses along the bag rivers.

Launching a manifesto for politicians before next year’s Seedd elections, WWF Cymru said that similar image was now emerging in the sea.

The pollution fueled by rivers damages marine ecosystems and the ocean capacity to store carbon, “by making conditions for recovery or restoration of carbon-rich habitats, such as sea herbaries, a challenge,” he said.

The charitable organization called for a “solid recovery plan” for Ocean habitats, supported by law and financing.

As with rivers, estuaries and sea areas around Wales are protected for their important habitats and their fauna.

NRW has described its report on the state of these marine bags and these special protection zones (spas) as “the most extensive to date on the state of marine protected areas in Europe”.

In total, 85 important characteristics have been evaluated – ranging from rare species such as gray seals and otters to protected habitats such as mud and salt marshes.

In bags and spas, 55% of the characteristics evaluated were in an unfavorable state, with 38% classified as favorable and 7% unknown.

NRW noted that nutrient pollution was “one of the main reasons” of problems on certain sites.

Individual reports have been prepared for seven bags, with five of the defaulting water quality targets due to excessive nutrients.

These include the special preservation area of ​​the Marine Pembrokeshire, one of the most famous and popular tourist hotspots in the country.

In the marine environment, the nutrient of concern is generally dissolved inorganic nitrogen, mainly incidents of agricultural runoff and pollution, suggest reports.

The evaluations have found good news for the dolphins of the bottlers and the gray seals in Welsh waters.

Welsh bags are considered vital to maintain their populations, and the two animals have turned out to be in a favorable state in Cardigan bay, the Lleyn and Sarnau peninsula.

In the Pembrokeshire sailor bag where about 90% of Welsh seal puppies are born, long -term measures show that the population has increased.

Ric Cooper helps to manage the CLEDDAU project in the Pembrokeshire where a group of volunteers works to restore the main rivers of the county – the west and the east of CLEDDAU – to good health.

“I live on the estuary and, like the others, had become more and more distraught from the state of the river,” he said.

“It often smelled of wastewater and sometimes suspension, and life in the river deteriorated before our eyes.

“We have green algae banks, we have what they can algae carpets during the summer months that are due to excess nutrients in water, sunlight and hot temperatures.”

The state of the river and the marine environment is “very linked”, explained Mr. Cooper, but he considered that the impact on the coast and the sea was “almost as a forgotten story”.

“There was not the same pressure to improve things for the estuary as for the freshwater cleddel.”

He said the group, which spent last year coordinating a citizen science project, monitoring water quality on 49 sites, involving 100 volunteers, was very impatient to read NRW reports.

“We want it to be stressed that this body of water fails, it is in the wrong direction, then the powers in place will have to decide what can be done on this subject.

“We hope it catalyzes more action.”

Shea Buckland-Jones, head of politics and advocacy at WWF Cymru, said that NRW’s assessments stressed “the terrible state of our waterways and the necessary urgent action of the Welsh government”.

“Unfortunately, the public does not need to see a report to assess the disastrous state of our navigable pathways because it is too apparent.

“This is why there is so much support from all over Wales to bring back the Welsh rivers in full health,” he added, pointing surveys in the name of the charity.

He suggested that 87% of the actions supported by the Welsh public from the Welsh government to reduce and, if possible, eliminate river pollution caused by agriculture and wastewater.

The results show that 79% of people requested supported the restoration of carbon -rich sea habitats such as sea herbaries, salt marshes and hyster reefs.

“As we have sent it to our new manifesto, this means sustained action to restore ecosystems and prevent all sources of river pollution, focusing on the two largest sources; agriculture and wastewater,” said Buckland-Jones.

A spokesperson for NFFU Cymru said that the agricultural union had recognized “the role that farmers must play in maintaining and improving water quality in Wales”.

“Farmers assume their environmental responsibilities seriously and NFU Cymru continues to work with partners to take measures to reduce incidents of agricultural points and diffuse pollution, where evidence shows that this is necessary,” they said.

Welsh Water said he was planning to invest 4 billion pounds Sterling – including 2.5 billion pounds sterling on environmental projects – by 2030.

“Over the next two years, we will rely on the work of NRW and will carry out surveys to understand the different sources of nutrients found in sea water, whether from water from the earth runoff or wastewater,” said society.

“River pollution and the quality of marine water are not only a problem for water companies. We must work with other sectors that have an impact on water quality to ensure improvement.”

Mary Lewis of NRW said that a huge amount of knowledge and expertise had been supported on “to produce such complete evidence on the state of our protected marine areas”.

“This will now provide us with an important basis so that we can follow progress,” she said.

The Welsh government said it was “determined to improve the health of our rivers and our seas” and enterprising “a range of actions to improve water quality”.

This includes the implementation of the implementation of the implementation of the revision of regulations on regulations on pollution of agricultural pollution, “he added.

“We remain dedicated to the development and strengthening of environmental law in Wales. The environmental bill (principles, governance and targets of biodiversity) (Wales), recently set up in Seedd, reflects the continuous need to provide a transformative change, in particular the fight against engines of the loss of biodiversity such as pollution by nutrients.”