Sewage pollution in River Tawe? “Live with it.”
Missing Salmon Alliance (MSA) member, Fish Legal, push for urgent action to stop chronic sewage pollution on River Tawe in South Wales, a river which hosts a species in crisis – wild Atlantic salmon – and biodiversity at risk.
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has confirmed that work to prevent regular discharges of untreated sewage into the River Tawe from Trebanos Wastewater Treatment Works is not likely to be completed until 2030. Since 2014, Fish Legal members Mond Angling Society and Pontardawe and Swansea Angling Society have witnessed increasing spills from the works with published data showing that it discharged untreated sewage for over 3231 hours on 182 occasions in 2021 and over 3676 on 270 occasions in 2020. The last spill recorded by the clubs was on 29 May 2022.
In May 2020, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water named the Trebanos works as ‘Number 1’ in its list of the 50 worst problem sites for the company in Wales. It provides sewage treatment for the communities of Pontardawe, Rhyd-y-fo and Ystalafera. The water company committed to dealing with its worst 30 sites by 2025, yet a year later it changed its position on Trebanos. Its U-turn was supported by Natural Resources Wales who claim they cannot find “sufficient environmental impact” to warrant action to stop sewage spills into the river before the next capital improvement period, which runs between 2025- 2030.
MSA member, Fish Legal, has been investigating on behalf of the angling clubs whether the discharges are compliant with the water company’s environmental permits. A Natural Resources Wales internal email, disclosed under a freedom of information request, reveals that the regulator considered serving a statutory notice on Welsh Water to demonstrate that it was “not being passive” but that the clubs would have to “just live with” the adjusted timescales for planned improvements.
Geoff Hardy, Solicitor with Fish Legal said: “I have rarely encountered such blatant back-tracking on commitments. The current position is that even if Welsh Water have approval to start work on day one of the next investment cycle, it will take at least 24 to 26 months to complete and could take up to 2030. This means that our members could have had to endure pollution from this broken system for 16 years. This has to be unacceptable by anyone’s standards.”
He added: “Why is one of the worst treatment works in Wales being allowed to continue spilling untreated sewage into the River Tawe because the environmental impact is not considered bad enough to deal with it sooner? Just how bad does it have to get?”
The Welsh Government[1] are in the process of reviewing Natural Resources Wales's performance against its statutory functions, with the Committee for Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee looking in particular at NRW’s enforcement of environmental laws and response to pollution incidents.
Pointing to failings in NRW’s culture. Penny Gane, Head of Practice at Fish Legal, said: “The Welsh Government should examine NRW’s culture and approach to enforcement because our members’ perception is that it is not prepared to take the tough decisions and enforcement action needed to protect river in Wales.”
Natural Resources Wales yesterday (25 July 2022) published the 2021 salmon stock assessments for 23 principal salmon rivers in Wales, including the River Tawe. In 2021 Wales recorded the lowest catches of both salmon and sea trout since consistent records began in 1970s which NRW described as “…the worst level of salmon and sea trout stock performance ever recorded in Wales” with many stocks “….now in serious trouble and at risk of failing to maintain sustainable populations in the future.”
[1] https://business.senedd.wales/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=741&MId=12573&Ver=4
As an Alliance of six organisations, we will build on the existing work of our partners and maximise our impact by taking a coordinated approach and vital action in order to halt and reverse the decline of wild Atlantic salmon.
The goal of the Missing Salmon Alliance is to build an evidence-base to influence national and international decision-makers to regulate activities that adversely impact wild Atlantic salmon.
The Missing Salmon Alliance
The MSA is comprised of the following members:
Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, Atlantic Salmon Trust, the Angling Trust with Fish Legal, The Rivers Trust and Fisheries Management Scotland.
https://www.missingsalmonalliance.org