Your Voice, Your Vote: Our water and how clean it is
Our water and how clean it is, continues to be of increasing concern for many who live close to the River Wye.
In the run-up to the general election, the BBC is looking at the issues that matter, like this one as part of Your Voice, Your Vote.
Emily Chapman once enjoyed swimming in the "nation's favourite river" but now feels the risk to her health is too great.
Last month, campaigners in charity River Action (RA) took the government to court over the state of the Wye - they lost the case but plan to appeal.
'It's a dying river'
"These rivers have effectively been destroyed by waste and the wildlife population decimated," said Ms Chapman.
She wants to know what plan a future government will have to protect and restore what she fears is a dying river.
"For the sake of the environment and wildlife, I'd like to know what MPs would do to clean up our rivers and how they'll prevent any further damage," she said.
The Wye is known as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and is home to protected species such as otters and Atlantic Salmon, but has recently been receiving attention for the wrong reason.
Pollution has killed much of the river's water crowfoot, a plant that provides a habitat and food for wild species.
It has also been increases in algal blooms - photosynthetic organisms that produce toxic effects on wildlife and human health when they grow uncontrollably.
'Advice-led approach'
The meandering Wye is 150 miles long starting in the Welsh hills before crossing the border into Hay-on-Wye, England.
RA had been granted a judicial review in May, alleging the Environment Agency (EA) had failed in its duty to protect the river from agricultural pollution.
After winning the case, an agency spokesman said: "We are working to implement a more preventative, advice-led approach to monitoring and enforcement.
"Anyone caught breaching environmental laws faces enforcement action, up to and including prosecution.”
The Wye's catchment flows through six parliamentary constituencies, three in Wales and three in England.
Numerous governing bodies in both countries have a stake in the water, but the flow of the river clearly does not recognise differing policies.
So, the only way to clean up the river is for all parties to work together, said Friends of the River Wye campaigner Nicola Cutcher.
"It’s hugely frustrating that for years everyone has said this river recognises no borders, it’s in England and Wales.
"People are devastated who live by this river and have watched the decline, we’ve got to have a cross-border plan."
Dave Throup was an EA worker in Herefordshire and Worcestershire for 22 years and said the problem must be addressed.
"The fact that you have two governments and two sets of regulators introduces a new set of complexities, but it’s something we’ve got to get over," he said.
Retired soldier Leslie Wilkinson walks his dog by the River Wye in Hereford and said water pollution is definitely on his mind as he considers which party to vote for.
“Look at the colour, it’s awful, it’s chocolate brown," he says, pointing at the river.
"It’s terrible, and the other day the whole river stank. It’s vile.
"It’s simple to look after water isn’t it? It’s vital for everybody.”
Scientists have said suffocating algae caused by high phosphate levels in the water has caused the vegetation to die, resulting in no food for animals that need the Wye to survive.
How would the parties tackle the issue?
The Conservatives pledged £35m to clean up the English section of the Wye, just before parliament was dissolved. Jesse Norman, Tory candidate for Herefordshire and South Herefordshire, said “we need collective change to clean up the river” in his campaign video.
Labour say they will “clamp down on water companies that harm the environment and pollute our rivers with automatic and severe fines, as well as new powers to block bonuses until water bosses have cleaned up the filth”.
The Lib Dems argue they will provide more funding to the Environment Agency and Natural England, make water companies public again and create a tough new regulator with power to prevent sewage pollution.
The Green Party pledged to “put water back into public hands” and are arguing for “water companies to be made accountable for what they are doing”.
On North Herefordshire candidate's Andrew Dye’s website, Reform say “net zero is not about Green, it is about greed.
"It is scientifically illiterate, environmentally and economically disastrous, the largest wealth transfer in human history and a deliberate act of national self-harm."
Candidates standing in Hereford and South Herefordshire:
Jesse Norman for the Conservative Party
Diana Toynbee for the Green Party
Joe Emmett for the Labour Party
Dan Powell represeting the Liberal Democrats
Nigel Ely for the Reform Party
Mark Weadon as an Independent
Candidates standing in North Herefordshire:
Bill Wiggin for the Conservative Party
Ellie Chowns will represent the Green Party
Jon Browning OBE for the Labour Party
Cat Hornsey for the Liberal Democrats
Andrew Dye for Reform
Michael Guest for the Social Democratic Party
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