no, i think farm pollution has been hidden away for far too long. it s the unseen contamination, though, that really worries conservationists the creeping decline of life. this is a river that s really suffered, and half of all pollution caused by agriculture is down to the industry that gives us billions of pints of milk a year. while supplying that industry, each dairy cow produces up to 53 litres of manure a day. so all the cows in the uk produce more than 50 billion litres a year. that s enough to fill wembley stadium 12 times over. properly applied, it s a highly valuable fertiliser, called slurry. there are strict laws on how it should be treated, but if too much is spread or it rains hard, it can wash off into the rivers. we kick the riverbed to bring out
litres of manure a day. so, all the cows in the uk produce more than 50 billion litres a year. that s enough to fill wembley stadium 12 times over. properly applied, it s a highly valuable fertiliser, called slurry. this is the river nadder in wiltshire. there should be some mayfly in there. oh, yes. yeah, look at that. david is a volunteer, taking samples of the smallest creatures to monitor the health of the river. how do you feel looking down at this tray and the life in it, as opposed to what you used to sample? it s a real tragedy. the freshwater shrimp, which even three or four years ago we would have been counting them in their hundreds, here i am, and i m struggling to find ten. we ve discovered that last year alone, there were 300 incidents of river contamination linked to livestock farms, including 20 major spills. yet only six farms were prosecuted.
suffered, and half of all pollution caused by agriculture is down to the industry that gives us billions of pints of milk a year. while supplying that industry, each dairy cow produces up to 53 litres of manure a day. so all the cows in the uk produce more than 50 billion litres a year. that s enough to fill wembley stadium 12 times over. properly applied, it s a highly valuable fertiliser, called slurry. there are strict laws on how it should be treated, but if too much is spread or it rains hard, it can wash off into the rivers. we keep the riverbed to bring out all of the invertebrates that live inside the riverbed. the flow of water then catches them into the net. this is the river nadder in wiltshire. there should be some mayfly there. oh, yes. yeah, look at that.
was prosecuted for both leaks and ordered to pay tens of thousands of pounds. do you think people are aware that this is a problem? no, i think farm pollution has been hidden away for far too long. it s the unseen contamination, though, that really worries conservationists the creeping decline of life. this is a river that s really suffered, and half of all pollution caused by agriculture is down to the industry that gives us billions of pints of milk a year. while supplying that industry, each dairy cow produces up to 53 litres of manure a day. so all the cows in the uk produce more than 50 billion litres a year. that s enough to fill wembley stadium 12 times over. properly applied, it s a highly valuable fertiliser, called slurry. there are strict laws on how it should be treated, but if too much