The health of the River Wye was in 2023 updated to "unfavourable declining" because of a deterioration in key wildlifeCampaigners are taking the government to court, accusing it of not stopping chicken manure polluting the River Wye.
"We believe that the government and the Environment Agency have acted unlawfully by deliberately not enforcing the critical regulation that, had it been in force, would have prevented the contamination of the Wye catchment area," Charles Watson, the chairman of River Action, told the BBC. River Action say the Environment Agency, which has responsibility for England, deliberately ignored the rules under pressure from farmers. River Action says this allowed the farmers to apply excessive amounts of manure to fields, creating nutrient rich run-off that found its way into the River Wye and its tributaries.
There are many different sources of pollution that have contributed to the decline of the Wye. Studies by Lancaster University have shown that 70% of the phosphate in the River Wye catchment comes from agriculture, but not all of that is chicken-related. With chicken sheds producing huge amounts of manure, some farmers have been spreading it on fields as fertiliser. But if the ground cannot absorb it and it rains heavily, the nutrients can be washed into rivers and streams.Whittern Farms' James Wright talks to BBC environment correspondent Jonah Fisher in front of a mound of chicken manure