The farming industry will be asked to take steps to reduce phosphate pollution in Welsh rivers, but as part of a wider approach involving other industries, Wales’s first minister has said.
Mark Drakeford hosted a summit at the Royal Welsh Show on Monday (18 July) involving farming unions, the building industry, water companies, regulators and environmental agencies, to discuss ways to tackle pollution in conservation rivers, including the rivers Wye and Usk.
The Welsh government is investing £40m over the next three years to tackle river pollution and to protect the environment.
See also: How research project aims to improve phosphate use on farms
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Drakeford told reporters the summit was held in a “very constructive spirit”.
“People focused on articulating solutions they are able to offer and which collectively will add up to an action plan that we will now develop here in Wales.”
Mr Drakeford said he recognised that river pollution was a “multifaceted problem”, adding that the state of the River Wye was a “concern for all”.
But he had no doubt that climate change, and more frequent episodes of hot weather such as the current heatwave, was contributing to the problems. “When you reduce flows in rivers, you intensify the problem of phosphate pollution.”
Expert report
Phil Haygarth, a soil and water expert from Lancaster University, presented detailed research to the summit, providing factual, analytical data behind different factors.
“Building makes a difference, farming makes a difference, sewage treatment makes a difference, urban run-off makes a difference,” said Mr Drakeford, commenting on Prof Haygarth’s report.
Asked what this could mean for farming, Mr Drakeford said he hoped that Powys County Council, now led by a Liberal Democrat/Labour coalition, would take a different attitude towards giving planning permission for “highly intensive and very large-scale” poultry farming units.
Mr Drakeford told Farmers Weekly about a dozen plans were suggested at the summit, including nutrient offset schemes to offset some of the pollution, a national phosphate calculator and local nature catchment plans.
For example, the meeting heard about work in Hereford with intensive poultry farmers, looking at how the waste product can be turned into something that is useful and useable and does not simply get spread on the land and find its way too quickly into the rivers.
Destocking �?not an option’
NFU Cymru president Aled Jones was present at the summit. He said there were two avenues for phosphate to enter watercourses – soil erosion and slurry run-off during wet weather. But a certain level of phosphate was needed to maintain healthy soils.
Mr Jones said some intensive poultry farms had previously been singled out for blame, but the regulator Natural Resources Wales has concluded there is no evidence to point the finger at poultry farms.
“If you work on 50 different issues cumulatively, you can make a difference – and that’s the answer. Certainly, we can’t see destocking of Wales to control this issue as that would be economic disaster.”
Martin Williams, an arable farmer at Fownhope, south of Hereford, has used manure from intensive poultry units to fertilise his land. He has also been leading on the NFU’s work looking at ways to reduce phosphate pollution of the River Wye.
He said: “There are impending moves for major intervention in the chicken litter situation here. Herefordshire welcomes Wales to the party. It’s been a long time coming.”
