Wales' most protected river which is actually full of poo (original) (raw)

From the comfort of the riverbank you’d be forgiven for wandering beside the River Usk in ignorant bliss. At a glance it looks pleasant and inviting – but swim in it at your peril.

“It’s full of s***,” Phil Waggott says, pulling no punches. He began fishing for salmon in the Usk in the 1980s in Crickhowell when stocks were plentiful and demand was high but he has not seen, let alone caught, a salmon in the Usk for more than a year – and it’s depressingly easy to see why.

I’ve been beside the banks of the river at Usk Island in Monmouthshire for five minutes when one swimmer tells me they got out recently when they realised they were navigating their way through floating human faeces. “It’s slowly gone into decline and now it’s all but dead,” Phil sighs, recalling better times. “First the dace went, then the salmon, then trout, parr, and now very little is left at all. It’s really like chalk and cheese compared to what it was before in the Usk. It isn’t even recognisable to what it was 10 years ago.

“The rivers were full of fish and it was clean and vibrant. But now the Usk is turning into a canal and it’s basically lifeless. The Usk used to produce hundreds of salmon a year. Now we’re well under 100 and I actually haven’t seen a salmon in the Usk this year at all. Trout is the same – everything is the same. It’s dead.”

Phil Waggott has fished the river since the 1980s (Image: John Myers/WalesOnline)

The Usk is now a long stretch of human and animal waste and it is among the most toxic watercourses in the UK alongside its neighbour the Wye. Despite being a site of special scientific interest and a special area of conservation, making it the longest stretch of protected water in Wales, the Usk is dying as a result of man-made challenges including inadequate sewerage systems, sewage treatment, and irresponsible farming practices.

“I’m angry and sad about it,” Phil says. “Sad to see the state of the river and angry at the people destroying this ecosystem for profit. People are paying a lot of money to get their sewage treated and it isn’t being treated. It’s just getting thrown in the river and the river is paying the price for it.”

New data given to WalesOnline by the Save the River Usk campaign group, which is made up of volunteers including marine scientists, data scientists, lecturers, and academics, shows the scale of pollution in the Usk. The group, which has 82 volunteers and more than 300 members, is trained to scientifically test the Usk and its tributaries at 55 locations.

They have collected more than 3,000 samples which have uncovered the river’s stark deterioration. In its latest research published in August it found areas of the river being pumped into directly by Welsh Water from its sewage treatment works and combined sewer overflows (CSOs) are failing drastically against targets set by the regulator Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

One of the key indicators of river quality is the level of dissolved phosphate in the water. Phosphates are found in animal and human waste among other things. Phosphorus, used as a fertiliser by farmers, is known to be a helpful nutrient for plants and animals but too much of it can harm water quality by encouraging unhealthy algal growth in rivers. It kills habitats and aquatic wildlife and can also cause harm to anyone entering the water. Rivers usually record a high phosphate reading as a result of sewage in the river and phosphate run-off from farmland and other industry.

At Glascoed, a “pollution hotspot” which is by a sewage treatment plant near the town of Usk, the samples between January 2023 and June 2024 conclude an average of 85% failure against phosphate targets giving an indication as to just how much waste is in the water. At Radyr the failure rate is 71% above target since 2022. In Abergavenny at Ross Road bridge it’s 88% above. At Llanishen it’s at 82%, at Brecon 46%, and at Llangattock 56%. The river is now toxic for most aquatic species. The group claims: “We are finding consistent hotspots originating from Dŵr Cymru – Welsh Water – treatment plants. These regularly record levels 19,000% or more over the regulator’s targets.”

The green part in the centre of the map shows where Welsh Water is achieving NRW targets on phosphates and that is only because the threshold is particularly high (Image: Save the River Usk)

Phosphate levels on the Usk are through the roof in many parts (Image: Save the River Usk)

Save the River says it hopes its data can create change (Image: Save the River Usk)

Robin Masefield, a marine data scientist and volunteer for Save the River Usk in charge of the group's data collection, says: "It’s so important for us to have data to back up the campaign because it makes us hard to ignore. It also makes us hard to ignore because we use NRW's exact methods to measure phosphates so they can't argue with these findings.

"Every month I clean the data and check for anomalies and we’ll go back to the testers and check their numbers. The phosphate targets were set by the water framework directive based on the type of river system it is and it changes depending on the location within the catchment. We publish data each month to monitor the phosphate levels within the river.

"In total we’ve done two and a half years and every week we’re getting more than 50 new samples in. For most of the river 95% of the samples are over the levels where it should be for that stretch of the river. It is not good. It’s certainly failing by a long shot based on NRW’s targets for the river. Where it's passing is where their targets are allowed a higher threshold."

John Rock, operations manager for NRW, says of the data collected: "Much of NRW's statutory monitoring requires water samples to be taken following accredited methods and processes and analysed to standard methods in accredited laboratories. While the lack of accredited methods may make citizen science water quality data unsuitable for statutory monitoring and reporting purposes this data may still form part of investigatory work and play a valuable role in our understanding of the freshwater environment. There are also many factors that need to be taken into consideration to ensure that the samples are representative of the overall water quality in the river including making sure they are taken from the central flow of the water course and not close to any permitted discharges."

Alistair Hill has been an angler of 60 years on the river and is one of Save the River Usk's volunteers. “I’ve spent 60 years fishing and paddling in the river," he says. "I used to spend every summer with my grandparents in Little Mill up the road. When I was a boy under every big stone in the Usk there’d be aquatic life underneath. All of it has disappeared in the last 10 years. When I was a boy there were chub here, eels, dace, salmon. It’s non-existent now.

“I got involved in wanting to do something about it. I decided I’m not going to put up with this and I’m going to start testing the river so I know what is going into the river. Knowledge is power isn’t it? The first time I recorded the phosphates in the river my friends told me not to bother. But I'd become angry that not enough was being done. So I joined Save the River Usk to be able to do this properly. I now volunteer to test the river alongside some very educated people whom I’ve found great pleasure in working alongside. I got trained up and then started receiving the data and quickly began to realise just how bad a state this river is in.”

Alistair Hill remembers better times from the banks of the river at Usk Island in Monmouthshire (Image: John Myers/WalesOnline)

As you get close to the river it becomes apparent that it isn't in a good state but under the surface there is an even more harrowing picture (Image: John Myers/WalesOnline)

He bends down and begins picking up stone after stone from the riverbed. “You can see the green and brown, slimy algal growth. The whole thing is caked in the stuff. The algae has grown because of excessive nutrients. They come from farms but a hell of a lot of it will come from sewage treatment works too. It’s disgraceful.

"The so-called treated sewage going into the river from Brecon is black. I believe NRW are complicit in this and I say that because Welsh Water only has to comply with the targets they’ve been set for their sewage treatment works. The problem with that is the bar has been set so low when it should be high. It’s like setting the drink-drive limit at 20 pints."

Most of the UK has a combined sewerage system meaning rainwater and wastewater from homes are carried in the same pipes. Usually waste should be carried to sewage treatment works where it is dissolved and a final effluent is released into the river. But during periods of heavy rain, to prevent a treatment plant becoming overwhelmed and flooding homes and businesses, water companies are allowed to discharge untreated sewage through CSOs – more than 20 of which are along the Usk. That means releasing things like faeces, toilet tissue, and wet wipes directly into the watercourse – and it happens a lot.

According to Welsh Water's own figures last year the company reported it pumped untreated sewage into rivers for more than 900,000 hours. The water company recorded 105,943 spills in 2023 of which 93% were ranked "significant". In Welsh Water's operational area there was a 37% rise in the number of spills compared with 2022. When figures from the smaller water company Hafren Dyfrdwy are taken into account a total of more than one million hours were reportedly spent pumping untreated sewage into Wales' rivers in 2023, the Rivers Trust reports.

"It only used to happen in the early hours of the morning," Phil recalls. "I used to get up early and fish with my dad and sometimes we'd be out in the early hours and at 3am or 4am a sewer flow would come out and within an hour it’d be out to sea and by the time everyone got up it was gone. But it’s not like that now. It’s constant and it’s often raw sewage."

Phosphates in high volume feed algae in the water which sucks the life out of the watercourse (Image: John Myers)

Picking up stone after stone from the riverbed Alistair demonstrates how all of them are caked in brown and green slime (Image: John Myers)

Releasing any sewage before a plant reaches the overflow level stipulated on its permit is an illegal breach. A BBC investigation last year accused Welsh Water of illegally releasing sewage into the Usk by dumping when overflow levels hadn't been reached. Welsh Water initially denied it had operated illegally but later admitted it had between 40 and 50 wastewater treatment plants operating in breach of their permits, which casted doubt over the true scale of dumping of untreated sewage in Wales.

It later emerged Welsh Water breached regulations more than 200 times in the space of six years but the infringements only led to NRW issuing the company with two fines. Welsh Water says it has a “longstanding record of being open and transparent". The supplier added: "We always fully comply with any enforcement actions and agree timescales for completing any improvements needed to our network."

This week the company told WalesOnline its CSOs do not contribute significantly to river pollution. It said it currently contributes 22% of the total phosphorus in the Usk with 21% of that coming from the final effluent from its treatment works and the rest from CSOs. It said the causes of pollution of the Usk also comes from rural land use, urban run-off, soil erosion, industry, illegal misconnections, and poorly-maintained private septic tanks.

Farming union NFU Cymru said it "recognises the role farming has to play in reducing pollution from agriculture". An NFU Cymru spokesman said: “Welsh farmers take their responsibilities seriously and take great pride in their role as custodians of the Welsh environment.

"There are a range of different sources and sectors affecting water quality. The agriculture sector is committed to making improvements in water quality where these have been shown to be needed. NFU Cymru is clear that this should be done on the basis of robust peer-reviewed independent science and evidence and through working in partnership to develop local solutions to local problems. As farmers we recognise the role farming has to play in reducing pollution from agriculture including investing in on-farm infrastructure, changes to soil management, cover cropping, watercourse buffering using vegetation as well as a greater understanding of the nutrient values of manures and targeting their application in line with crop need.

“In relation to source apportionment modelling we understand there is a good level of confidence in the phosphate contribution of wastewater treatment works but the contributions of all other sectors are estimates hence all other possible contributors are included in the potentially misleading title of ‘rural land use’.”

A spokesman for the Farmers' Union of Wales added: "We have long called for a collaborative approach to tackling pollution in Welsh rivers. This must be based on robust data collection and water-quality monitoring that all stakeholders and farmers can trust. From an agricultural perspective there is an opportunity to innovate rather than regulate using the carrot not the stick. But this needs underpinning with financial support, correct support and guidance and, most importantly, farmers' trust."

Uncovering the scale of pollution within the Usk wouldn't have been possible without Angela Jones – a wild swimming expert and lifelong river campaigner who has dedicated her life to campaigning for a better future for rivers – and in particular the Wye and Usk near to her home in Monmouthshire. She created the Save the River Usk and Wye groups and often represents them in the Senedd and Westminster.

"The river has been part of my life for many years and decades," she says. "Like the veins in my body there is just a beautiful connection I have with the water and if I could live in it day in and day out I would. It’s an invitation into nature. I knew my favourite thing in the whole world was being below the surface and I knew when I started seeing it and tasting it (human and animal waste in the water) words weren’t going to change things but data could."

She tells of how she's become frustrated with a general apathy among the Welsh public for Wales' rivers. "Just 100m or so from us in the village hall I stood up and did a presentation about the state of the Usk and one person said: ‘Where is that pollution Angela?’ I said: ‘Two hundred metres from where we’re sitting.’ They couldn’t believe it. We really need to raise awareness about this more than anything. People need to know what is happening to our rivers so they can care more. I'm dedicating my life now to getting the message out there."

Angela Jones demonstrates how she tests the water (Image: John Myers/WalesOnline)

Angela Jones prepares a test kit beside the Usk at Usk Island, Monmouthshire (Image: John Myers/WalesOnline)

She used to take people swimming in the Wye but she all but lost her business to pollution. "I couldn't take anyone in there now," she explains. "It's too dangerous." She has stopped the day job, making huge financial sacrifices including not having wi-fi or heating. It's allowed her the time to grow her group of trusty volunteers by the month.

"Our kits cost up to £300 and I know I have spent at least £20,000 of my own money to fund what we’ve done. I’ve sacrificed so much but I didn’t have a choice if I wanted to be taken seriously. I've kept pushing and pushing for people to come onboard. People who walk the dogs, swimmers, scientists, all sorts – 82 people have come together to record data at 55 locations from the river and its tributaries and we are testing every week. We have recorded 3,000 samples with the help of 300 members.

"They are local community people who have said: 'Enough is enough and we will bring change.' We love this river and we will never allow it to die. We’re starting to make a difference and we have hope. Ultimately what we’re looking at here is the most protected river in Wales in legislation and yet it is the highest failing. If that doesn't alarm people I don't know what will."

A spokesman for Welsh Water said: “We are working hard to improve water quality on the River Usk by investing £20m in the area to increase our infrastructure capacity, remove phosphorous, and increase stormwater storage. We know we can improve our performance and we are currently investing heavily in special area of conservation rivers in line with Welsh Government policy.

“Our not-for-profit model has allowed us to accelerate this programme by an extra £100m across our area including the £20m we are investing on the Usk. These projects are due to be completed by March 2025. It is false to claim that sewage discharge from our assets is deliberate or an attempt to save money.

“Storm overflows work in a similar way to the overflow in your sink or bath – they overflow during heavy rain to prevent wastewater flooding people’s homes and businesses. We will only succeed in reducing phosphorous levels in rivers through multi-sector cooperation as rural land use, urban runoff, industry, soil erosion, illegal misconnections, and private septic tanks all contribute to the levels found in the water.”

Mr Rock of NRW added: “The challenges facing our rivers are complex and while we are taking urgent action to improve water quality it will take time to see the real-time improvements we all want to see. We are exploring the potential of citizen science and collaborative partnerships alongside our own monitoring to contribute to the shared challenge of improving water quality.

"Following on from our 2021 phosphorus compliance report for Welsh Special Area of Conservation rivers we plan to publish a new updated compliance assessment in early 2025. We are committed to fulfilling our ambitions and instigating the changes required to improve the health of our rivers. Our flagship Four Rivers for Life project is working in communities and with partners delivering improvements on the ground to help restore the Usk to favourable condition.”