A story of one British river - The River Wye

The River Wye is probably the poster child of river conservation in the UK right now, and I wanted to tell its story.

Here’s what happens to a river when regulations are outdated, the chicken business is booming, and the problems, for decades, mostly get ignored, until it’s impossible to do so.

And here’s also what happens when people put in tons of effort into helping to protect the river, and it actually pays off.

It’s about how we can make sure that stuff that should not be in rivers is kept out of the rivers.

00:00 Intro
01:56 What’s happening?
04:21 Water crowfoot
05:39 Algal blooms
06:20 Chickens
08:00 Why did this happen?
11:04 Farmers
16:41 Things are improving!
21:41 Summing up
24:10 More to check out
25:27 Canada geese

Sources:

Natural Resources Wales: Salmon numbers in the Wye
https://cdn.cyfoethnaturiol.cymru/695...

Friends of the River Wye: E.coli levels in 2024
https://friendsoftheriverwye.org.uk/n...

Wye Salmon Association: Phosphorus levels
https://www.wyesalmon.com/phosphate-s...

UKECN: My chickens/humans calculation (data for Wye catchment population)
https://ecn.ac.uk/sites/site/rivers/wye

Farm Advisory Service: Common poultry farming practices
https://www.fas.scot/downloads/poultr...

The Guardian: Total number of chickens
https://www.theguardian.com/environme...

Defra: Poultry industry growth in the UK
https://assets.publishing.service.gov...

WyeViz
https://public.tableau.com/app/profil...

Thanks for watching!