For centuries, a stroll along the River Wye almost guaranteed the sight of a leaping salmon, joyfully emerging from the surface of the crystal clear water before returning to the depths.
The stretch of idyllic countryside, lauded by William Wordsworth and his Romantic contemporaries, went about its daily routine undisturbed – and had a fair claim to being Britain’s most beautiful secret.
But that was another era. The arrival in recent years of an army of chicken farms on the Wye’s banks has ushered in an astonishing decline in the health of the river.
More than 20 million birds are believed to be housed in these industrial farms, which produce tonnes of phosphate-rich manure, later spread across fields and leaked into the water.
Discharges of treated and untreated sewage straight into the water have also become a regular occurrence.
These abuses against the Wye have left the once glistening river reeling, according to campaigners – and it may never recover its old glory.
A final humiliation was inflicted on those who love the river in 2023 when its status was downgraded to ‘unfavourable declining’ by Natural England, the government’s environmental advisor.
But the Wye’s admirers are fighting back.
The arrival in recent years of an army of chicken farms on the River Wye’s banks has ushered in an astonishing decline in the health of the river (Pictured: the river by Chepstow Castle)
A final humiliation was inflicted on those who love the idylic river in 2023 when its status was downgraded to ‘unfavourable declining’ by Natural England
In October, law firm Leigh Day brought the biggest legal claim over environmental pollution in the UK’s history when it revealed its lawsuit against Avara Foods poultry group – which it claims is responsible for around 75 per cent of the area’s poultry – and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water – which oversees sewage in the region – over ‘their alleged role in polluting’ the river, as well as its nearby siblings, the Usk and the Lugg.
The action was made on behalf of more than 4,000 locals exasperated at the state of the Wye – the fourth longest river in the UK.
If successful, the claim will force the alleged polluters to clean up the rivers on behalf of those who joined it.
Some spoke to the Daily Mail about the Wye’s rapid fall from grace, painting the picture of a once-proud river, now saturated with industrial sludge and reeking of raw sewage.
Once one of the country’s premier fishing rivers, the Wye has become an almost barren body of water with pervasive algae reducing oxygen levels, effectively suffocating life beneath the surface.
Justin Connolly, 55, and his fellow fishermen used to catch dozens of Atlantic salmon each season, but it has now been years since he landed a single one.
He has had to give up his dream job of guiding learner anglers, which he previously did five to seven times a week during the Wye’s halcyon days.
Since then, the idyllic river has turned into a foul, sludgy body of water, thick with algae and thin on salmon.
Justin Connolly, pictured, and his fellow fishermen used to catch dozens of Atlantic salmon each season, but it has now been years since he landed a single one
This has dramatically altered Mr Connolly’s previous pleasant way of life and he said: ‘The state of the river put fishermen off, and it came to a point where I had to change my career.
‘It was getting to the point, especially mid-summer, where I was just having to cancel so many days. I was probably cancelling 40 per cent of my clients over the last three years and I just thought this isn’t sustainable as a business anymore.’
The angler still occasionally visits some of the spots along the Wye which had given him so much joy in a bygone era, but he described their condition as ‘horrendous’.
Mr Connolly added: ‘The algae on the river bed is really thick and heavy.
‘There’s obviously been a massive decline in salmon. I can’t pinpoint it to pollution, but I’m guessing it’s got a massive effect on it.’
He revealed the water is now often unsafe to enter, even for a quick dip, and stories were rife of dogs dying from exposure to the grim river as well as children getting ill.
‘My friend’s son was actually swimming in the Wye and he was in intensive care for some time,’ the fisherman said. ‘They put that down to swimming in the water.’
All this is a far cry from his guiding days along the famous river – and a reflection on those times brings back bittersweet memories.
‘It’s a shame, because it was a lovely job on the river every day,’ Mr Connolly added. ‘I couldn’t think of anything better.
‘I’ve got a grandson now. I would like him to be able to catch a salmon on the river. It would be wonderful but as it’s looking, it’s not great.’
Former Olympic swimmer Roland Lee moved to Bredwardine, a historic fishing spot on the Herefordshire stretch of the river, in 2020, having long enjoyed the beauty of the area from his parents’ home in Monmouth in the 1980s.
A reservist for the army for 30 years, the sportsman hoped to practice swimming in open water, just yards from his new property.
But the accelerated pollution of the Wye left this pleasant idea smelling of rotten water.
Since moving to the area, Mr Lee has rarely been able to swim in the river and instead pays to swim in pools and lakes, some almost an hour away.
A dead salmon lies in the murky waters of a polluted River Wye. For centuries, a stroll there almost guaranteed the sight of a leaping salmon. No longer
He said: ‘The pollution is not very pleasant. It creates the smell, it creates an opaqueness in the water.
‘People have to be really careful when they swim regularly. They need to wash themselves really thoroughly after they get out. They need to wash out their mouths and be careful of taking any water in up their nostrils or in their eyes or through their mouth, because there are things now that are guaranteed to make you sick.
‘And then add to that, the fact you go down to Bredwardine Beach and the stones are all coated in slime, algae, sewage solids. And so it is just not pleasant. But beyond that, you have to be aware that actually it can make you mildly ill.’
Mr Lee, a finalist in each of the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Olympics, joined the legal action which claims to be the biggest of its kind in terms of the number of claimants, the geographical scale of the damage and the total damages claimed.
What promised to be the perfect spot for everyday wild swimming has turned into a near no-go zone for the reservist, who added that he now only braves the Wye for ‘a very occasional dip’.
Going for a dip is one thing, but training makes the local tired so increases the chances of him swallowing water.
Mr Lee said: ‘When you get the stagnant water in the side pools and the blue green algae in there, which is poisonous stuff, that really does get to stink.
‘When you’re in the beautiful countryside, and you get these sewage smells, you’re wondering, “where’s the sewage work here?” And then you realise it’s the river.
Former Olympic swimmer Roland Lee has seen the river’s decline since he moved to Bredwardine, a historic fishing spot on the Herefordshire stretch of the river, in 2020
‘There are certain things I’ve always wanted to do, like canoe the whole length of the Wye, and the state of the river has meant those things are pipe dreams.’
Regular journeys to fee-charging pools miles from his home cost Mr Lee money, but it is the wider damage to the area’s natural beauty that he is more infuriated with.
Both the Upper Wye and Lower Wye are protected as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, while the entire river is labelled a Special Area of Conservation – but the way the Wye has been treated leaves many searching for the point of such tags.
‘It’s a beautiful part of the world and, at the moment, there’s a real edge to that beauty, which is horrible,’ he added.
‘I’m not massively optimistic that it’s all going to solve everything, but I’m hoping that society gets to the point where we’re helping nature bring everything back gradually.’
Few among the 4,000 signatories to Leigh Day’s claim will be under any illusions the damage can be reversed quickly. It will be a long and bitter battle to return the Wye to its former glories.
Phosphate from vast quantities of chicken waste has caused algae to bloom and the river to become murky, reducing the light and oxygen getting through to river life.
Already on the decline after years of overfishing, the Wye’s once teeming salmon population has nose-dived further.
Abuses against the Wye, pictured, have left the once glistening river reeling, according to campaigners – and it may never recover its old glory
The Wye Salmon Association declined to comment when approached by the Daily Mail.
Jenny-May While grew up in Herefordshire, the county home to around half of the Wye’s 155-mile length, and spent much of her childhood swimming in the waters, while dreaming of a day when she could move to a place on the banks of the river.
This day came five years ago when she returned to the area with her family, hopeful of many a day out paddling with her children in the clear waters she had loved in her youth.
The Wye’s decline put paid to this idea and, given her new home’s proximity to the polluted river, even left her uncomfortable sitting in her own front yard.
Speaking, instead, from behind the safety of her living room window, Ms While rued the river’s demise.
She said: ‘We were just so excited because it’s an amazing view and you get an amazing connection to nature every day.
‘But since that time the quality of the water has just become so degraded.
‘It’s basically being suffocated, it’s very murky, it’s sometimes very smelly, and it’s just really sad. It has definitely affected us as a family.’
A view of the Wye from near Jenny-May While’s home. Its decline put paid to her dream of swimming in it every day and even left her uncomfortable sitting in her own front yard
She added that her childhood days of looking out for a variety of fish, birds and plantlife had vanished and the Wye was now a ‘desert’.
Things are more frustrating still given the simplicity of the solution, which according to Ms While, consists of making sure no more poultry waste is dumped in the water.
This would set the river on a course towards its original state, the resident said.
She added: ‘I know a lot of people are losing their livelihoods because they do rely on the river – the canoe centres and the people who do fishing. It’s ruining people’s lives.
‘I feel personally very distressed about it. It is really heartbreaking because it is so unnecessary and it is so stark.
‘It is getting worse very quickly. I’ve cried quite a lot about it.
‘It’s an apocalyptic landscape.’
All this has left Ms While reluctant to enter the water, a thought unconscionable when she bought her place.
Matthew Cartwright purchased a high street shop in Leominster, Herefordshire, pictured, with a view to converting it into rental accommodation but concerns over pollution has prompted the council to increase regulations
‘I don’t want to give up on the river quite yet, so I still sometimes do go in, but I wouldn’t ever put my head under,’ she said.
‘I wouldn’t recommend anybody go in really. And I know people who’ve been sick. My kids went in the Usk this summer, and they were really sick after that, vomiting, horrible.’
Confirming her fears, Ms While got a rash while swimming in the water last summer.
The pollution’s effects go further than the safety of the water, with a revolting smell and regular invasions of flies blamed on the substances dumped in the river.
‘It’s definitely not as beautiful as it used to be, and the smell comes radically,’ Ms While added.
‘There is also this certain breed of fly that I think is the only thing that does well off of the algae. So at certain times of year, there’ll be a kind of proliferation of these flies.
‘In the summer, when it’s hot, we have to shut all our windows, because otherwise the house is just completely full of all these horrible little flies.
‘When the river does flood, because the water is so horrible, after the flood it is pretty gross. There’s some debris and stuff, sticks and things, but you wouldn’t want to touch it with your bare hands. I mean, it’s poo, it’s gross.’
The river’s misfortunes are also hitting Ms While financially, and she admitted the impact on the value of her property was a ‘concern’.
But the local believes the legal action has been launched just in time and it stands a chance of reversing the damage inflicted on the Wye.
‘I am hopeful,’ Ms While said. ‘It’s great what Leigh Day are doing because it’s difficult for individuals to make any difference. We felt so impotent and helpless before.
‘It was like we’re just the little people, we can’t stand up to these polluters.
‘I think there’s a tipping point where, if they stop it, then nature will will come back in.
‘I don’t want to give up on the river quite yet.’
The Wye’s deterioration is hitting some locals in a more tangible way, with many left out of pocket as tourists avoid their canoeing, swimming or fishing businesses thanks to the grim water quality.
Among those counting themselves worse off for the river’s decline is Matthew Cartwright, who purchased a high street shop in Leominster, Herefordshire in 2018 with a view to converting it into rental accommodation.
More than seven years on, and much of the property remains out-of-action after a ban on planning applications in the area around the River Lugg, a tributary of the Wye and also a subject of Leigh Day’s legal action.
While the main shop area in the Grade II building has been rented out, the back offices and workshops have been hit by the planning moratorium, imposed thanks to the pollution problem.
The ban applies to all properties which could release waste water into the river
The delay has seen him miss out on a development grant, as well as lower interest rates which would have been available to him at the time he initially lodged his planning application in 2020.
Mr Cartwright estimates the hold-up to his project will cost him tens of thousands of pounds.
He said: ‘Herefordshire as a rural county doesn’t have a great deal of outlets for new housing construction. They desperately need to increase the number of available homes and housing.
‘It’s been like economic negligence squared for five years. It just seems like total madness, very counter intuitive to the ambitions the politicians like to give us.
‘Even during this moratorium, there were chicken factories getting approved for development in the county and further upstream in Powys.
‘It was business as usual if you were an agricultural processing plant but it just felt like putting everyone else’s life on hold.’
To make matters worse, word of the pollution has put many potential visitors the area off the idea, reducing demand for accommodation like Mr Cartwright’s.
‘It does affect the viability of running a holiday let in an area where some of your potential customers are people who like to either swim, fish or go boating on the Rivers Wye, Lugg and Arrow,’ he added.
‘If the river is full of algae and not very pleasant, then that’s going to dent the tourism potential of the area.
‘We’re not getting a lot of people who are turning up with canoes and doing boating events there. And I don’t see a lot of fishermen coming to use my place.’
Justin Albert lives by the Wye and grew up in the area, but says he no longer feels the river is safe to swim in.
He said: ‘I have seen at first hand the deterioration of the River Wye, both growing-up and living in the area.
‘It has become dirtier, muddier and cloudier, and no longer feels safe to swim in, with chicken manure pollution a major contributing factor amongst a number of issues.
‘But there is a chance to still save the Wye. There are steps that can be taken to ensure the river returns to a healthy state, and plenty of hope yet for the Wye as long as these are implemented.’
A spokesperson for Avara Foods said: ‘We share concerns about the condition of the River Wye, but we believe that this legal claim is based on a misunderstanding, as no manure is stored or spread on poultry-only farms that supply Avara Foods.
‘Where poultry manure is used as fertiliser, it is for other produce in other agricultural sectors. Individual farmers are responsible for how nutrients are used in their arable operations.
‘Avara is not involved in any arable operations and has no control over this activity. All our poultry is produced in Britain to standards that are amongst the highest in the world.
‘We employ 5,000 people in the UK and approximately 1,500 people in the catchment area, and we all want a healthy River Wye.’
The Daily Mail has approached Welsh Water for comment.
