hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: the household energy supplier octopus energy has reached a deal to buy bulb, one of the companies which collapsed last year amid soaring wholesale gas and electricity prices. the head of the royal navy orders an investigation into allegations that female recruits have been sexually abused and harassed on submarines. president biden condemns an attack on the husband of senior democrat, nancy pelosi, saying there's too much vitriol in us politics. the ministry of defence has accused the russian government of �*peddling false claims�* after moscow said uk forces helped with a drone attack on russian fleets near the crimean port of sevastopol. there's major disruption to rail services across scotland due to a 24—hour walkout by scotrail workers. more than 2000 rmt

members are on strike. now on bbc news: bbc wales investigates — what's killing 0ur rivers? you see herons and dragonflies. you see lots of little shellfish in the shallow parts. sometimes you will see a salmonjumping out of the water. you start to realise that how many people don't have stuff like this, particularly in lockdown when we were very grateful to have it. these school friends have made the most of a record—breaking summer. like thousands of others. but there is something wrong with our rivers.

the sad sight to see. it's absolutely devastating what with finding out here today. but of the water, look at this. this is algae. it's taking over our rivers and waterways. and when human and animal waste gets into a river not only is it bad for our health it is also full of nutrients like phosphate which act as a kind of super and his algae gets into the river it

here more than 35% of phosphates come from rural land runoff. as our demand for cheap food have grown farming production has intensified. and that has led to a growing mountain of muck. i lived on his farm all my life. me and my sisters would always help with the jobs, even when we were younger we would always be amongst them. it's always been something that i knew that i

would want to do, which is why i'm still here now and i'm wanting to carry on the farm. jumbo works on her family farm next to one of the rivers that feeds into the why, along with her dad they raise cows, feeding them keeps gwen busy as does dealing with a mountain of manure. that muck is gathered underneath this barn. so what happens with an? some of the manoeuvre is collected and they are but there's always a bit of runoff. where it is a go? see the stretch year? down that trench there, down through the grid there. there is a manhole there. sturgeon, it holds about 3000 gallons. you see that muck floating on the top of the water? in a month or six weeks that'll run in. this muck is full of phosphates wasn't vital for growing the crops we need. it goes by tanker, but it sucked up by tanker. actually, you go up on that dry hill

there, it's dry, it is dry as a cork, there's no land drains, there's no nothing for that we have the right, we have a licence to spread there. the prices can't see how muck could be getting into our rivers when there's so many rules and regulations governing how farmers like them can safely use it. we are just on the valley from the price's farm. which runs eventually into the river itself. we tested the water here for phosphates, and as expected, phosphate levels are very low. but further down river they are too high.

and that's putting wildlife at risk. auditors have thrived in parts of the wwwiii, along with other many rare species. it's one of the most protected rivers in britain because of this rich wildlife. all of our rivers are now at risk of extinction from salmon and sea trout. gail has over 20 years experience in the water industry. she says that farming and sewage are having a combined affect. it's much more than that direct species and habitats within the river. so our river is the source of drinking water, is used by farmers as crop irrigation, it's used to feed cattle. we just reach a point where rivers cannot cope any more without they are being used and what we

are putting into them. 0ur agricultural land use has changed. poultry units just did not exist at the top of that catchment 15 years ago. what we've seen is a huge burst of poultry units in a very short amount of time, which is saturated that landscape. there are startling figures on the number of intensive poultry farms that have sprung up. council only started keeping records from 2018. but we discovered the rapid growth in intensive farming started a decade earlier. since 2008 planning has been extended to bar extensions every year. today there are now more than 300 intensive poultry farms with the capacity for 9.6 million chickens. many believe this rapid expansion is causing pollution in the wye.

but with poor water quality monitoring across the uk there is currently no evidence of a direct link. hi, how we doing? scientist here approach the problem from a different angle, looking at how much muck is being produced in the wye catchment. where you have these high of intensive livestock production you end up with too much phosphorus are available in the manure that's fair to go on to the land. they estimate that around seven and a half thousand tonnes of phosphorus gets into the soil around the river wye every year. much of that by spreading muck from poultry farms. but only some of that is absorbed by crops. the rest is access. you're left with a difference of about 3000 tonnes of phosphorus that is above the crop requirement of what we would call a surplus. which is naturally very high, it's about 60% higher than the national average. fundamentally, if you have a surplus, you are too much phosphorus in your environment it is likely that you are going to have worse water quality. the data shows quite clearly, there are parts

you're left with a difference of about 3000 tonnes of phosphorus that is above the crop requirement of what we would call a surplus. which is naturally very high, it's about 60% higher than the national average. fundamentally, if you have a surplus, you are too much phosphorus in your environment it is likely that you are going to have worse water quality. the data shows quite clearly, there are parts of the catchment where phosphorus levels are very high, if not a little bit too high. so those areas do not need phosphorus at the moment. they do not need much input? no, they don't need muck or fertiliser or any phosphorus input.

sciences here are clear, to start fixing the problem muck spreading should be stopped completely in some parts of the wye. for those who get out on the river regularly, the current state of the wye is having a real impact. i think about a year and a - half, maybe two years ago there the home river went green in the water. i then one of their friends became ill. we all get a bit scared so we kind of stayed on paddle boards rather than going in and accidentally consuming the water. as well as driving people out of the water

pollution from animal and human waste is having a wider impact. we estimate that we've got around 11,000 houses that are held up in the planning system currently. housing at this side has been put on hold. the plans that have been prepared for this site show 25 affordable homes. we've got quite a lot of people on the housing waiting list here. barry davis helps developers and housing associates to build new homes. so this is a brownfield site? what is holding this development back right now? the planning application is ready for submission and it has been ready for 18 months or so. unfortunately, there is the current phosphate situation affecting the river wye, special area of conservation, which means developments like this can't currently proceed. last year phosphate titan for special protection for that that meant all new developments in that area were affected. the moratorium

affectively came in overnight with little or no consultation with the development industry. which we found to be very frustrating, particularly given that the amount of phosphate that new development contributes to this phosphate issue is relatively low for that we felt that it was very much a sledge hammer to crack a knot. and here we are 20 months on end this site is still laying follow. what we need is for all of the public bodies to work to gather with the development industry to come up with a solution together. we are not really seeing that. in total, 12 councils and all three national parks in wales are affected by the new phosphate targets. we contacted all of them and they estimated at more than 5000 new homes are impacted and could be delayed or even abandoned.

if 5000 homes aren't built the loss to economic activity would be in excess of £700 million. this tough new planning guidance has also been brought in over the border, where an estimated 100,000 new homes across 7a planning authorities in england are affected. and the loss to economic activity here would be more than £15 billion. and it's become a hot political topic. the royal wells did maxwell show is a major event on farmers calendars. —— welsh show. one of the big talking points is the ban on building in rural communities.

the first minister has called an emergency summit here to try and reach a solution. the need to provide homes in those communities is urgent and a priority for us. when you put all those things together, this is an issue that has rapidly gained in public attention, it deserves that proper attention and that's what today's seminar it was designed to create. the show is over and the crowds have left. but farmers are still dealing with a raft of changes facing their industry. and president alexjones wants more proof that farming is causing pollution before asking his members to invest in costly solutions. i feel it is part of the problem. it is very complex issue, there is so many other contributors to the water failing in these rivers. there is no simple answer, i'm afraid. because obviously population growth is such that they need to be housing development. at the same time, those people need, to be fair we need to go

with the evidence. and that evidence is clarified clearly then we will respond. it certainly seems to be on the agenda but could authorities work more closely to financers? in another part of the uk they've been doing just this. you can of course take years to completely turn around a political river. but here on the west coast of scotland locals and scottish environment officials say the benefits are already being felt on beaches like this one because of the work to do with farmers on the river. ian was is one of three farmers who all have dairy farms who all have firms in this part was that water run straight off the

streams that feed the nearby river. but unlike most farmers in wales he is regularly inspected by wales checking how he stores and spreads his slurry. will go in here. these inspectors are from sepa, the scottish equivalent of natural resources wales he started noticing problems with phosphates and their rivers as far back as 200a. farmers always say they want to be compliant and comply with rules and regulations. it's only when you show them when they're not compliant will they take some

regulatory improvements. compliance in this area has risen from 34% in 2010 to 99% 110w. seeing a difference on the concentration on the river as it could happen overnight. it's good to can never of years for reid to shin in the phosphate levels but it can be done. it is something that has to be started sooner rather than later. scotland's environmental regulator spends £900,000 a year on a dedicated team of 12 inspectors and support staff just checking water pollution from farms. so what about in wales? natural resources wales of the environmental regulator but while they do inspect some farms they don't have a full time, fully funded team like in scotland. in charge of water quality at an rw is sean williams. we know there are problem areas in the wye catchment. what we've done is a lot of targeting different bars so that we had a dairy project that we ran, which we now are

looking at how the role of that dairy project into different catchments and looking more around nutrients and phosphates. it's key having people on the ground to deliver it so important that is why we are looking into it notjust externalfunded programmes, that's temporary but were also looking at our baseline funding with welsh government. your budgets have gone down about a third since its inception. does it sometimes conductive resources? we would like to do more. we will do more. we can work with others as well. the welsh government has been facing new laws to tackle water pollution from farms and is currently talking to an rw about resources for the end rw told us they have yet to read steve any funding to in force those new rules. this is a simple solution around investment and funding into that. scottish government have

invested in that and we need to look at how we can achieve that in wales. we can put in as much change in policy and legislation as we live. it is only as good as the strength of our regulation and enforcement and against the policy. if there is little enforcement of the new regulation in wales it would stand to farmers to follow the rules as best they can. this chicken farmer is birds for the meat. this year was granted permission to double its capacity to 180,000 broiler chickens. once that new shed is built this farms mark will be taken off—site to an anaerobic digestion. he is following the rules.

that digester is licensed to take animal waste from farms for them and after producing energy it sends the phosphate rich leftovers to be spread on the land. we've followed some of that waste product. it's being spread on this field. but as we were filming we noticed that on this occasion mark appears to have been spread here around two metres from the water in this culvert. legally, this gap should be at least six metres. i took a walk in the field a few months later. it's been a bumper summer. crops have been planted, harvested and taken away already. and there is the culvert that runs on the edge of the field and it finishes just over here.

and this is what we are looking for, this is a culvert or gully right on the edge of the field. this is where we saw mark being spread far too close of the field. and the concern is that whatever is in the culvert, water and muck and goes down here into the riverjust there and then three miles downriver to the big old river wye itself. so who was responsible for the questionable spreading? we asked the digester company but they didn't respond. the farmer whose land it is didn't want to comment. we followed muck to just one farm and found that rules appeared to be broken. the question is, could this also be happening elsewhere? who is actually responsible for inspecting this? powers counsel says it

isn't them and less is been a breach of planning conditions. and it's actually an rwjob to check in and force regulations around muck management. when it comes to muck spreading itself, dave told us they don't proactively check how it's done. if you are not inspecting the actual spreading of muck there's an obvious loophole in the system. it's about how we can be better at doing a lot of the stuff monitoring will pick up issues in catchments for that we are monitoring better now that we have done before. so it's important that were using our evidence, using the data it and were responding to that in targeting our business in the right places. even if monitoring finally improves, is that enough? we have failure on lots of different parts of the system. it's not just about land spreading have we got sufficient enforcement and regulations on sewer overflows and waste water

treatment discharges? is a huge cumulative impact of the river wye and i think all of our rivers. and perhaps that is not what's being understood at the minute. ijust think, i would like to carry on and i would like to stay farming here. farmers like gemma continue to try and make a living. but decisions made by policymakers will have an impact on theirfuture. and at the moment, the messages are mixed. you can't go far without being not very far from a chicken shed. if they stopped giving planning permission for chicken farmers in this area, if they supposedly thought we were the main contributors i think it would have an impact on the families around here who are wanting to diversify, wanted to make more money and it is slightly unfair. the labour lead welsh government has made

much of its plan for a greener wales. but amid all the targets and regulations, is there an effective plan to support farmers and to protect our rivers? we know we had an issue around to many poultry farms, for instance being put in the same place. we need to work with our local authorities... do you agree there are too many poultry farms? we saw certainly in the previous administration there, we saw a lot of planning permissions allowed it was your government to give the grandson of the poultry farm. what i'm saying is the local authority needs to know the of all these poultry farms. you are the authority. what i'm saying is it's about working together to make sure that where you can get perhaps quicker wins, i see is a long—term issue, we look forfor quick gains too.

nrw who oversees much of this has had its funding consistently cut. if not policing things like muck spreading are you prepared to tell farmers that they can't spread muck on their land because it's too much phosphate in the river already? we have to look at the regulations. at the individual farmer for the one of the things and bring forward in relation to delaying the one regulation is a licensing scheme if a farmer wants to apply for a and thank is not pertinent for that farm, we can do that. a lot of this is legacy phosphorus was up at that as part of the problem. we are now. if that's part of it obviously we can look at it. do you take responsibility for what's happening to our rivers? well of course and part of the

solution just as other people are. we all have to take responsibility, each and every one of us. the scale of problem is daunting. there is a sewage as well as a slobbery problem to fix. gemma hopes to be the next generation of her family to make a living from the land. and the friends hope that they once again will be able to get out on the water. the pace of modern life is killing our rivers. the situation is retrievable

at the longer we leave it the more likely it is to slip through our fingers. exceptionally mild across the board but especially across the south—east where we have seen 23 celsius. as we had entered tomorrow it is going to be mild but maybe not quite as warm as today than a mixture of sunshine and showers. these will be blustery across western areas because we are close to this area of low pressure. more isobars and stronger winds. the sources coming up from the subtropics which is why it is so mild. 0vernight the rain will clear away from scotland. drierfor mild. 0vernight the rain will clear away from scotland. drier for many. cloudy main pushing into the cells. blustery showers will follow across

into the south—west and the mild night come with lows of 10—111. don't forget the clocks do go back one hourin forget the clocks do go back one hour in the early hours of sunday so hopefully a mixture hour in there for many of us for sunday morning. low pressure will be nearby so it will be another unsettled day. windy m blustery for all hours. winds touching gale force. most of the showers will affect the north and west of the country. early rain clears and there is a brightening up process your through the afternoon. some good spells of sunshine but it will be quite windy especially in the north and west. gusts of a0 or 50. it's going to be mild for the time of year but not as warm as it was through saturday afternoon. showers will clear northwards and thenit showers will clear northwards and then it is quieterfor a time.

temperatures will be 10—13 so it stays very mild indeed. into monday and tuesday we can see low pressure takes over once again. it will be quite windy, wet at times and that is the theme, i think of the west of the week. low pressure hurtling in means it will stay unsettled, windy with gales at times. heavy rain interspersed with sunshine and showers and it is going to start turning cooler through the weekend you can see that here on the outlook chart. temperatures a little bit closer to the seasonal norm.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 5.00pm: the household energy supplier 0ctopus energy has reached a deal to buy bulb, one of the companies which collapsed last year amid soaring wholesale gas and electricity prices. it will be good octopus to take over bulb and relieve the taxpayer of the burden of running it at the moment. the head of the royal navy orders an investigation into allegations that female recruits have been sexually abused and harassed on submarines. president biden condemns an attack on the husband of senior democrat nancy pelosi, saying there's too much vitriol in us politics. the ministry of defence has accused the russian government of "peddling false claims" after moscow said uk forces helped with a drone attack on russian fleets near the crimean port of sevastopol.