River Wye pollution // The Observer

A story on the pollution of the River Wye for The Observer. In the Wye Valley, 3000 people have joined one of the biggest legal cases ever in the UK. In 2020, local residents became concerned about the transformation of the River Wye from crystal clear to ‘pea soup’, with a river once teeming with wildlife now murky ‘and covered in slime’. Suspicions have focussed on the poultry factories; the area contains around 23 millions chickens and their manure, which is full of phosphates, has been cited as the reason for the river’s demise by members of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales.

The next few weeks will see the legal case against Cargill, one of the worlds biggest food firms, and Avara Foods brought to the high court. The claimants argue that the firm, which has annual revenues of £120bn, could have foreseen the risk of polluting one of the nation’s best-known rivers, described as the birthplace of British tourism. The chicken industry disputes the claims and says it has “no merit”.

The full article can be found here https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/high-court-to-decide-if-23-million-chickens-are-killing-the-river-wye