The UK’s rivers face “a horror story that just gets worse and worse” amid fears the country is heading for a drought, a campaign group has said.
Charles Watson, founder and chair of River Action, said reduced water levels meant the UK’s rivers would become more polluted and urged the Government to act to prevent an “ecological emergency”.
River Action has so far largely focused on the issue of pollution, raising concerns about the impact of intensive farming on waterways such as the River Wye.Agricultural pollution harms rivers through a process called eutrophication, in which nutrients washed from fields into waterways cause algal blooms that harm or kill plants, fish and other wildlife.He said: “The flows are drying up, which is disastrous for wildlife.
Using the example of the River Wye, he said the river’s salmon population was only saved during July’s heatwave by Natural Resources Wales’ decision to open the Caban Coch reservoir, feeding the Wye and raising its water levels.According to the Environment Agency’s monitoring equipment at Hereford Bridge, the river’s water level had fallen to just 0.04 metres on Tuesday afternoon, well below the top of its normal range of 3.3m.