Welcome to this information page which explains the Environment Agency’s analysis, activities and plans to improve water quality, reduce excess nutrients, and help improve environments in the Wye and Lugg river catchments.
Whilst this focuses on the Environment Agency’s work, there are many key organisations and community groups involved. They are helping monitor water quality, planning and taking actions to reduce nutrients and support river recovery, and supporting others to have a role. Links are provided below to our partners’ websites.
This page will be updated with new data, actions taken, trends, information and case studies on the Environment Agency’s work.
To report a pollution incident, if you observe an algal bloom or if you see fish in distress call the Environment Agency’s incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60 or email ics@environment-agency.gov.uk with details of the issue, location and ideally photographs. Please note that if you live in England but close to the Welsh border, you may be automatically redirected to Natural Resource Wales’ incident hotline when calling the above number. In this case we recommend utilising our email address, detailed above, instead.
Information for citizen scientists sampling water quality is below.
Current status - temperature and algal bloom warning system
Which organisations are working together?
Role of the Environment Agency, Natural England and Natural Resources Wales
The Environment Agency is concerned about high phosphate levels in the Wye and Lugg catchments. We are working closely with a range of stakeholders and partners to address these concerns.
Phosphate originates from two main sources. These are discharges from sewage treatment works which are regulated through Environmental Permits and from diffuse agricultural pollution, principally from livestock manure and nutrients washing into the river during rainfall events. More than 60% of phosphate (varying across the catchment) entering rivers is from agriculture.
The Environment Agency, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, Herefordshire Council, Powys Council, and Dwr Cymru Welsh Water all work together on the River Wye Nutrient Management Plan (NMP; and associated Action Plan). The NMP Board and Technical Advisory Group (TAG) involves key stakeholders (including water companies and farming support organisations and local authorities).
We are working together to address the causes and impacts of high phosphate levels, through a combination of advice and guidance, regulation and the delivery of projects to reduce phosphate inputs.
As part of our advisory role, the Environment Agency is a partner in Farm Herefordshire - a group of organisations set up to support the farming community in delivering NMP objectives, particularly from agricultural diffuse pollution. Further details can be found here: http://wyecatchment.org/farm-herefordshire/
We also regulate the agriculture and water industries so our work includes targeted agricultural visits and working with Dwr Cymru Welsh Water to reduce phosphate in the catchment from sewage treatment works.
The Environment Agency's role is to:
To monitor the condition of the River Wye and ensure habitat features are in a healthy state and being conserved by appropriate management.
To assess whether proposals to carry out operations within a SSSI have a positive or negative effect on the condition of a site.
Advise Herefordshire Council and Gloucestershire County Council on their Local Nature Recovery Strategy.
Advice and approval for grants to delivery improvements for air and water quality through the joint Natural England/Environment Agency Catchment Sensitive Farming Programme, as well advice to farmers through Agri-environment agreements.
See Designated Sites information
To manage the environment in the most beneficial way, taking account of social, economic and environmental needs.
To regulate and to protect people and the environment by ensuring that businesses and individuals operate within the law when their actions impact on the environment. For water quality this means setting rules and regulating water companies, farmers, developers and industry,
As a statutory consultee for planning applications, providing advice on how a development may affect the environment. This includes possible damage to important habitats, wildlife, rivers and landscapes,.
To gather evidence to develop our knowledge of the environment in Wales, in conjunction with a wide range of partners. This includes running sampling and monitoring programmes
Advise the Welsh Government, to industry and to the wider public and voluntary sector - advising on how new policies, legislation, developments and their day to day work affects the environment.
See Water Watch Wales maps
To appropriately focus everyone’s resources and actions on reducing nutrients entering the rivers, we need to understand nutrient levels and how phosphate is moving - runoff from fields but also through drainage systems. The soil chemistry is another area under investigation – for example even if we stopped adding more phosphate immediately phosphate could still be leaching out for many years.
The Environment Agency will release reports analysing catchment data from multiple sources every six months (for the first year we published these reports every three months). This is vital evidence to show what is happening in the catchment and determine priority actions.
We recognise, and are grateful, that many people are keen to support efforts to improve the water in the Wye and Lugg catchments through Citizen Science initiatives.
The data obtained by Citizen Science groups will complement existing Environment Agency monitoring and data.
All the information, from the Environment Agency and Citizen Scientists, will inform how we plan and prioritise activity across the entire catchment and will determine the locations where our resources are most needed and can have the most impact.
We have also sought independent evidence through the recent RePhoKus project by Lancaster University which carried out a system level analysis of phosphate in the catchment. Details are due to be published soon.
The Environment Agency’s River Wye Management Catchment Integrated Data Analysis Report
We will bring data from monitoring sondes and autosamplers together with existing datasets twice a year to answer the following questions to contribute to a shared understanding and ownership among all stakeholders of the issues and actions required:
1. What are the main variables contributing to algal blooms in the Wye?
2. What other ecological and water quality issues does the data show?
a. When did these occur?
b. Where did these occur?
3. Which locations, sectors and activities were responsible for the ecological and water quality issues identified in the data?
4. What recommendations can be made for regulatory, partnership and industry sector actions to prevent the reoccurrence of ecological and water quality issues identified in the data?
The most recent report can be downloaded here. A detailed summary is below (after the visual summary) .
There is a large amount of Citizen Science monitoring that has taken place within the Wye Management Catchment by third parties in the past year. We will continue to analyse Citizen Science data in future reports and expect that the usefulness of this data will grow even more when all sites have at least a full year’s worth of data by autumn 2022. We aim to integrate this data more with incident report intelligence in future reports.
We are looking at how we can incorporate the findings from RePhoKUs into our modelling work with partners to identify the areas of the catchment presenting the highest risk of nutrient input to watercourses. We are also funding Catchment Partnership projects to investigate land drains and understand whether the lab findings regarding soil type vulnerabilities to leaching phosphate are confirmed in the field.
Further work is also required to assess the sources of nutrient uptake to macrophytes and algae which are not detectable by water column monitoring. Sediment sampling especially, should be explored to fill this gap in understanding. We will pursue all available funding and delivery routes for this, including asking for support from partners where our resources do not allow us to undertake the desired sampling.
Describing the habitat through Habscore and River Habitat Surveys would help in understanding the interplay between the physical conditions and biological communities and contribute to understanding the impacts of climate change on habitat availability. We will pursue all available funding and delivery routes for this, including asking for support from partners where our resources do not allow us to undertake the desired sampling.
More detailed time series data on volumes spilled by CSOs is required to rigorously assess the relative contribution that such sources play. Dwr Cymru Welsh Water have shared this information with us and we aim to analyse it for future reports. Detailed information on the movements of manure and wastes spread to land is needed to be able to understand the impacts of activities that generate these materials. We are investigating the options available to obtain this information.
While more information is still required to provide more detailed recommendations to support targeted action, we can recommend the following:
Significant reduction in nutrient input from all sources is required across the whole catchment to contribute to the recovery of river macrophytes. Reducing run-off and leaching of nutrients from land during summer rainfall events when dilution is low and temperatures are high is an important element of this remedial activity.
The RePhoKUs project (Withers, et al., 2022) concluded that eliminating the agricultural phosphorus surplus and drawing down the existing phosphate from soils to at least the agronomic optimum, and possibly further, is required to achieve water quality targets in the catchment, which may take about a decade.
Investigations into the sources of pollution events on the River Wye in Hereford should be carried out to identify areas for investment to prevent reoccurrence of the events inputting ammonium and phosphate to the river captured by the sondes and Citizen Scientists.
Efforts to increase shade by tree planting and better management of riparian trees could help mitigate high temperatures. We have developed a high temperature and algal bloom early warning system to enable us to respond to excessive temperatures with advice for anglers and river users and extra monitoring.
Taking a catchment-based approach, all contributing partners in the Wye Management Catchment could target investigations, analysis and remedial actions in key focus catchments that meet the following criteria:Further investigations in partnership should include understanding the pathways and impacts of manures and wastes that are spread to land and a comprehensive appraisal of options to mitigate the impacts of poor water quality, including whether we could manage water resources differently to create more dilution.
Where Citizen Scientists can support the efforts of land managers and discharge operators to reduce the impact of their operations by undertaking targeted monitoring and evaluation in response to identified high nutrient events, we would encourage them to do so, following the guidance we have previously shared on safe and effective monitoring.
This includes and builds on conclusions drawn from previous reports
We can currently conclude, based on the latest available data, that:
Future reports
Incident Reports
Public access to our monitoring and environmental data is available at: https://environment.data.gov.uk/water-quality/view/explore
All our open data is available at: Defra Data Services Platform
This page has a gallery of easy to use apps for viewing our various open data sources Defra Data Services Platform
The Environment Agency’s role is to regulate the water and agricultural industries and monitor water quality.
Regulation
Dwr Cymru Welsh Water is taking action to reduce phosphate in the catchment from sewage treatment works:
The Environment Agency adopts a targeted regulatory approach – in line with our enforcement and prosecution policy / guidelines and because it is not possible to check every one of the thousands of farms in the catchment.
Our agricultural compliance and regulatory activity uses monitoring data, real time satellite and drone information, runoff-risk maps and intelligence from previous incidents and public reports to identify and target locations at high risk of contributing to nutrient and soil pollution.
An extensive programme of advisory and support work is delivered by catchment Sensitive Farming and catchment partners, including the Wye and Usk Foundation, Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and Farm Herefordshire to reduce agricultural sources of pollution to the River Wye.
Current status
What is happening?
What is the Environment Agency doing about it?
Monitoring sondes
How you can help
Project Tara:
We are working with the poultry industry to understand the scale of poultry manure production and use in the River Wye catchment. We are also working with the anaerobic digestion and dairy industries for a similar purpose with regards to their manure production and use. We are carrying out regulatory assessments to ensure compliance with the Reduction and Prevention of Agricultural Diffuse Pollution Regulations and the Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations. These checks aim to ensure that the nutrients within the poultry manure are being utilised effectively for crop production and do not pose a risk of causing diffuse pollution.
Enforcement
Across the Wye and Lugg catchments in 2021 we carried out 137 inspections in areas at risk of causing diffuse agricultural pollution. The areas were identified using our monitoring network (such as satellite data, Lidar, and drones) and reports of pollution.
This included:
Of the 137 inspections, we used regulatory powers in 36 instances to require land managers to come into compliance. This included providing regulatory advice and guidance and signposting to additional support offered by partner organisations such as the Wye and Usk Foundation. In total we issued ten warning letters.
We recruited several new officers in the latter half of 2021 to enable more farm visits.
See below Frequently Asked Questions section for more on our monitoring role and our role in intensive poultry units.
The Environment Agency is working with a variety of partners in the Wye Catchment to improve water quality. By collaborating on projects that encompass nature-based solutions, we aim to enhance the catchment on aspects such as biodiversity, invasive species and habitat creation. Partners that we have worked with in the past include Wye Valley AONB, Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, Wye and Usk Foundation and Herefordshire Council. Some of the projects the Environment Agency has been involved in can be found here. We are also active partners in the Wye Catchment Partnership and Farm Herefordshire.
Additionally, the Wye and Usk Foundation are involved in Woodlands for Water, run by the Riverscapes, that is exploring areas and landowners interested in funded tree planting schemes. The West Midlands Environment Agency Trees for People and Climate are also working with the Wye and Usk Foundation to develop a project to plant trees throughout the catchment via alternate avenues of funding to compliment the above.
We are working with a variety of partners in the development and delivery of a Citizen Science monitoring programme. This additional resource will be used to collect water quality data throughout the Wye catchment and will help to identify and prioritise where measures can be targeted to reduce inputs of pollution.
We politely request Citizen Scientists to follow our data collection and reporting guidance to ensure the data can be used effectively
Where Citizen Science groups identify pollution incidents (including algal bloom, dead fish or fish in distress) these should be reported to the Environment Agency via the 24hr Incident Hotline: 0800 80 70 60 or by emailing ics@environment-agency.gov.uk.
Please do not report high phosphate readings to the incident hotline – report them as usual through the collector app.
Please note the Environment Agency will only attend incidents which are categorised by the Common Incident Classification Scheme (CICS) as serious/significant. Less severe environmental incidents will be recorded on our data systems and used to target investigations, regulation, campaigns, water quality planning, projects and partnership working.
What is the Environment Agency’s role in monitoring?
The Environment Agency has long term data and trend information on water quality in the English Wye and Lugg and will continue to prioritise this baseline information in the Special Area of Conservation (SAC) waterbodies to support our working.
We aim to be more flexible and agile in where we focus monitoring and investigative resources throughout the wider catchment and we are continuing to develop bespoke monitoring programmes to allow better identification of hotspots and cross-border issues.
This will enable us to respond more rapidly and effectively when at-risk areas are identified through intelligence from satellite images and other environmental monitoring (for example water quality issues identified during invertebrate and other catchment surveys or use of use of phosphate sondes detectors).
We plan to also use the results of citizen science and third- party monitoring to add to our catchment knowledge.
Our data analysis and identification and investigation of how moves through the catchment will allow all partners to plan appropriate advice and regulation measure.
The Nutrient Management Plan Board considers cross border matters and recognises the need for a coordinated approach to data analysis and monitoring across the Wye/Lugg catchments. Discussions between Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales are underway to develop a suitable programme.
What is the Environment Agency’s role in intensive pig and poultry farms?
The planning process is the responsibility of the local planning authority, such as Herefordshire Council for the English part of the River Wye.
The Environment Agency regulates intensive pig and poultry farms and operators must apply for an environmental permit from us if they rear poultry intensively. Intensive poultry farms with a capacity exceeding the threshold of 40,000 birds require a permit under Environmental Permitting Regulations.
The Environment Agency’s decision whether to grant an environmental permit is separate from the planning process.
A new development will need to have both planning permission and an environmental permit before it can operate. It is possible for a site to be granted planning permission and not granted an environmental permit or vice versa.
Certain activities, that could be harmful to the environment, need an environmental permit to operate. The Environment Agency issues these permits to operators that allows them permission to carry out certain types of activities at a specific location with conditions that aim to protect the environment and people’s health. To regulate the permit, the Environment Agency perform inspections to check the operator’s compliance and takes enforcement action if the conditions of the permits are not upheld.
When considering a permit for an intensive pig or poultry farm, operators must meet requirements of our “How to Comply with your Environmental Permit Intensive Farming” (relevant appendices available here detailing more information on issues such as dust, odour and noise management). Operators must comply with the environmental risk assessment associated with intensive farming, showing that installation environmental impacts are satisfactory. Permit conditions for installations of the Intensive Farming Sector have conditions set out by the Best Available Techniques (BAT) 2017 conclusions.
The Environment Agency can refuse a permit application in certain circumstances, for example: if we have reason to believe that the operator is not competent to run the regulated facility in accordance with the permit; the environmental impact would be unacceptable (for instance, an operator might propose siting a new facility close to an extremely sensitive environment, but with no means of providing adequate control); and/or the information provided by the operator does not provide a reasonable basis to determine the permit conditions, taking into account the operator’s responses to requests for more information. The overall guidance for refusing a permit is complex but more information can be found in section 7 (and 7.6 for refusals) on the environmental permitting core guide.
Why are new intensive pig and poultry farms being approved given the recognition of a phosphate problem in the Wye catchment?
The development of a farms and planning are a decision for the local authority. The Environment Agency regulates the operations and emissions from these farms. Careful consideration is made through the permit determination process and farm inspections to ensure compliance with the requirements of Best Available Techniques (BAT) 2017 for the intensive rearing of poultry or pigs. We further ensure compliance with How to Comply with your Environmental Permit Intensive Farming guidance standards for clean water and dirty water management at both the permitting and compliance stages.
For the purposes of a permit assessment/determination, the Environment Agency carries out in-combination Habitats Regulations Assessment for ammonia where a proposed permitted site lies within five kilometres of a designated European site. This process includes consultation with Natural England and Natural Resources Wales where required. This assessment is limited to the impact of ammonia emissions to air. This is due to the scope of the permitting regime, the site boundary for permitted pig and poultry farms typically includes the livestock housing, any yard areas and associated infrastructure but does not routinely include adjacent land. Therefore, the spreading of manures and slurry to land (and the associated potential for water quality impacts) is primarily regulated through other existing regulations (Nitrate Vulnerable Zones Regulations and Farming Rules for Water).
Abstraction
In general any abstraction of water (in excess of 20 cubic metres per day) from either a surface water source (river, stream etc.) or groundwater source needs to be authorised under an abstraction permit issued by the Environment Agency (or Natural Resources Wales if in Wales). If farmers have access to a source of these waters, they can apply to us for the appropriate permit. All applications are assessed through a determination process to ensure that the abstraction (if granted) is sustainable and in accordance with the policy set out for the catchment in the relevant Abtraction Licensing Strategy.
The majority of surface water abstraction permits issued most recently include restriction conditions which protect the environment by requiring the abstraction to stop or reduce once the river flow falls below a pre-set threshold. However, there are some older licences that were issued prior to these conditions being used and as such they will be allowed to continue abstracting even though flows are low.
Many farmers also abstract water during the winter months to fill on-farm storage reservoirs. This stored water can then be used freely during the summer periods when it is required for irrigation.
Prolonged low periods of rainfall can lead to a rapid fall in river flows across most of England. We are working with water companies, farmers, and wider stakeholders to monitor water resources and ensure that the needs of water users and the environment are met.
During droughts and prolonged dry weather, we regulate abstractors by imposing restrictions on their licences, issuing drought permits, and scrutinising water company drought plans to ensure they are robust and fit for purpose.
If you are concerned about a specific abstraction, please contact the Environment Agency (or NRW if in Wales) on 0800 80 70 60 or email ics@environment-agency.gov.uk with details of the issue, location and if possiblewith photographs and we can investigate further to ensure that an appropriate permit is in place.
Frequently Asked Questions
We have developed these answers to frequenly asked questions that are currently being asked by citizen scientists.
If you have questions or queries, or you would like to provide feedback to us on any of the information above, you can get in touch with us at enquiries_westmids@environment-agency.gov.uk
Share
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook