PARTS of the River Wye and Usk have failed to reach phosphate testing standards, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has said.
For the first time since stricter targets for phosphate levels were set for Wales’ rivers, NRW on Thursday published an evidence package outlining phosphate levels for all river Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) across Wales.
There are nine river SACs in Wales – Cleddau, Eden, Gwyrfai, Teifi, Tywi, Glaslyn, Dee, Usk and Wye. These rivers support some of Wales’ most special wildlife like Atlantic salmon, freshwater pearl mussel, white-clawed crayfish and floating water-plantain.
The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) recommended that UK nature conservation organisations adopt tighter targets after considering new evidence about the environmental impacts of phosphate. In addition, the predicted warmer and drier weather resulting from climate change could reduce river flows during the summer, and so increase phosphate concentrations.