this is bbc news. the headlines: 20 years after first becoming brazil's leader, lula da silva has been sworn in as president again. he's promised sweeping reversals of his far—right predecessor's policies and has revoked jair bolsonaro�*s gun—carrying laws and pledged to reduce deforestation. there have been more air raid warnings in kyiv tonight, after a wave of russian missile strikes on the ukrainian capital on new year's day. nato secretary generaljens stoltenberg has said the west must be prepared to provide long—term support to ukraine. thousands of mourners gathered at the vatican after the death of benedict xvi to hear

pope francis pay tribute to his predecessor. the former pontiff will be lying in state from today until his funeral on thursday. now on bbc news: what's killing our rivers? you see herons and dragonflies. you see lots of little shellfish in the shallow parts. sometimes you will see a salmon jumping 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. what a sad sight to see. it's absolutely devastating what we're finding out here today. in the water, look at this. just look at it. 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 food for the algae. and as algae gets into the river, it strips the river of oxygen, killing off other plant and animal life.

one third of rivers in wales are now failing phosphate targets. while in some areas it's mainly from the sewer system, in others it's largely agriculture. the river wye is a case in point. here more than 70% of phosphates come from rural land run—off. as our demand for cheap food has grown, farming production has intensified. and that has led to a growing mountain of muck. i'mjemma price, i'm 22 and i have lived on this farm all my life. me and my sisters would always help with the jobs, even when we were younger, we would always be amongst it. 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.

jemma works on herfamily farm next to one of the rivers that feeds into the wye, along with her dad they raise cows, sheep and chickens. feeding them keeps gwen busy as does dealing with a mountain of manure. that muck is gathered underneath this barn. so what happens to it then? some of the manure is collected and they are but there's always a bit of run—off. where does it is a go? see the trench there? down that trench there, down through the grid there. there is a manhole there. the storage tank holds about 3000 gallons. you see that chicken muck floating on the top of the water? in a month or six weeks, that'll run empty again. this muck is full of phosphates, vital for growing the crops we need.

it goes by tanker, it's sucked out 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 and 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 down the valley from the price's farm. this is the river which runs eventually into the river wye 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. 0tters have thrived in parts of the wye, 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 in wales 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, it's used by farmers as crop irrigation, it's used to feed cattle. we've just reach a point where rivers cannot cope any more with how 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 has 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've discovered the rapid growth in intensive farming started a decade earlier. since 2008, planning permission has been extended to dozens of poultry farmers and barn 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? scientists 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 areas of intensive livestock production, you end up with too much phosphorus available in the manure that's there to go on to the land. they estimate that around 7,500 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 extra. you're left with a difference of about 3,000 tonnes of phosphorus that is above the crop requirement of what we would call a surplus. which is nationally very high, it's about 60% greater than the national average. fundamentally, if you have a surplus, you have 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 soil phosphorus levels are already high enough, if not a little bit too high. so those areas do not need phosphorus input at the moment. they do not need muck spreading? no, you don't need phosphorous inputs, they don't need muck

or fertiliser or any phosphorus input. scientists here are clear, to start fixing the problem muck spreading should be stopped completely in some parts of the wye. there's loads of algae. ew. you don't have to go in, it's all slimy. for those who get out on the river regularly, the current state of the wye is having a real impact. ew. we were swimming and jumping off a rock and stuff when everything looked 0k. i think about a year- and a half, maybe two years ago, the whole river- went green in the water. then one of their friends became ill. we all got a bit scared so we kind of stayed on paddle boards and things 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 1,100 houses that are held up in the planning system currently. housing at this site 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 associations 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 submission for 18 months or so. unfortunately, there is the current phosphate situation affecting the river wye, special area of conservation, which means that developments like this can't currently proceed.

last year natural resources wales phosphate was tightened for special protection for that that meant all new developments in that area were affected. the moratorium effectively 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. we felt that it was very much a sledge hammer to crack a nut. and here we are 20 months on and this site is still laying fallow. 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 more

than 5,000 new homes are impacted and could be delayed or even abandoned. if 5,000 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 welsh show is a major event on farmers�* calendars. 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 political attention and that's what today's seminar 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. nfu cymru president aled jones 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 there needs to be housing development. at the same time, those people need to be fed as well and we need to go with the evidence. and when that evidence is clarified clearly, then we will respond. it certainly seems to be on the agenda but could authorities work more closely to find answers? in another parts of the uk, they've been doing just this. you can, of course, take years to completely turn around a polluted 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 they're doing with farmers on the river eyre. ian watson is one of three brothers who all have dairy

farms in this part of ayrshire. water runs off this farm straight into streams that feed the nearby river. but unlike most farmers in wales, he is regularly inspected by officials, checking how he stores and spreads his slurry. yeah, this is keyshill farm. we willjust go in here and meet ian, the farmer. these inspectors are from sepa, the scottish equivalent of natural resources wales. they started noticing problems with phosphates in 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 where they're not compliant, will they take some regulatory improvements. compliance in this area has risen from 34% in 2010 to 99% now. seeing a difference in nutrient concentration on the river course isn't going to happen overnight.

it's going to take a number of years for for improvements in reductions in nitrate and phosphate levels, but it can be done. but it's something that probably 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 staffjust checking water pollution from farms. so, what about in wales? natural resources wales are the environmental regulator, but while they do inspect some farms, they don't have a full—time, fully funded team like in scotland. speaks welsh. in charge of water quality at nrw is sian williams. we know there are problem areas in the wye catchment. have you done what the scots are doing? so, what we've done a lot is targeting different kinds of farms, so we had a dairy

project that we ran for a couple of years, which we're now looking at how we can evolve that dairy project into looking at different catchments and looking more around nutrients and phosphates as well. it's key, having people on the ground to deliver is so important and, as i said, that's why we are looking into notjust external—funded programmes that are temporary but we're also looking at our baseline funding with welsh government. your budgets have gone down about, by a third, i think, since inception. does it sometimes come down to resources? we would like to do more. we will do more. we can work with others as well. the welsh government has been phasing in new laws to tackle water pollution from farms and is currently talking to nrw about resources. nrw told us they have yet to receive any funding

to enforce 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 like, it is only as good as the strength of our regulation enforcement against that policy. if there is little enforcement of the new regulations in wales, it would stand to farmers to follow the rules as best they can. this chicken farm rears birds for their meat. this year, it was granted permission to double its capacity to 180,000 broiler chickens. once that new shed is built, this farm's muck will be taken off—site to an anaerobic digester. he's following the rules.

that digester is licensed to take animal waste from farms 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, muck 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 over there is the culvert that runs down 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. and this is where we saw — apparently — muck being spread far too close of the edge of the field to the culvert itself and the concern is that whatever is in the culvert, water and muck and goes then 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? powys council says it isn't

them, unless there's been a breach of planning conditions and it's actually nrw�*s job to check and to enforce regulations around muck management. but when it comes to muck spreading itself, they've told us they don't proactively check how it's done. if you're not inspecting the actual spreading of muck, isn't that an obvious loophole in the system? well, as i said, it's about how we can be better at doing a lot of this stuff, so, you know, monitoring will pick up issues in catchments. we are monitoring better now than we have done before. so, it's important that we're using our evidence, that we're using the data, and we're responding to that and targeting our visits in the right places. but even if monitoring finally improves, is that enough? we have failure on lots of different parts of the system at the minute.

it's notjust about land spreading. have we got sufficient enforcement and regulations on sewer overflows and on waste water treatment work discharges? it's a huge cumulative impact to 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 here, farming here. - farmers likejemma continue to try and make a living but decisions made by policymakers will have an impact on their future 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 farms 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, who are wanting

to make more money, and it's slightly unfair. the labour—led 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 too many poultry farms, for instance, being put in the same place, so we need to work with our local authorities... do you agree there are too many poultry farms in here for wye? we saw certainly in the powys area, in the previous administration there, we saw a lot of planning permissions allowed. but that — it was your government that gave the grants for those poultry farms. but what i'm saying is you've got to make sure that the local authority needs to know the cumulative impact of all these poultry farms. so you blame local authority? no, i'm not! i'm not trying to blame anybody. what i'm saying is it's about working together to make sure that where you can get perhaps quicker wins, i see that obviously

it's a long—term issue, nrw, which oversees much of this, has had its funding consistently cut. if nobody�*s policing things like muck spreading, are you prepared to tell farmers that they can't spread muck on their land because there's too much phosphate in the river already? well, we have to look at the regulations, we have to look at the individual farmers, and one of the things we are bringing forward in relation to delaying the one regulation is a licensing scheme. now, if a farmer wants to apply for a licensing scheme and we think that it's not pertinent for that farm, we can do that. but that's from here going forward. a lot of this is legacy phosphorus. that is part of the problem. we are where we are now. and 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, i'm part of the solution, just as other people are. we all have to take responsibility, each and every one of us. the scale of the problem is daunting. there is a sewage as well as a slurry problem to fix. so, is there still time for the wye and other iconic

welsh rivers to be saved? yes, it is salvageable, but it is going to take a huge amount of working together and it's going to require all of those sectors to play their part in this. and what we see at the moment is actually quite a lot of delays in that happening, and we cannot wait any longer. quite simply, if it carries on as it is now, that river ecosystem will just collapse. jemma hopes to be the next generation of herfamily 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 but the longer we leave it, the more likely it is to slip

through ourfingers. hello, there. the first week of january 2023 looks pretty unsettled, with low pressure systems moving in off the atlantic, bringing some wind and rain at times. it will generally be on the mild side, but there will be some drier, chillier, more settled interludes in between these areas of low pressure — one such settled period will be through today, bank holiday monday, thanks this ridge of high pressure which should bring us a lot of dry and sunny weather around, but it will be colder than what we've been used to. a chilly start this morning across northern and western areas. risk of ice for northern ireland, northern england,

certainly across scotland, where we have some light snow. any showers across northwest england and southern southeast england will tend to fizzle out through the day — they'll continue in the north and west of scotland, some wintry over the high ground. but plenty of sunshine through the morning and afternoon, but it will feel cooler, 3—9 celsius across the board. thereafter, low pressure systems move in to bring wet and windy weather at times — you can see it's generally mild, but turning a bit colder later in the week in the north.

welcome to bbc news. i'm david willis. our top stories: 20 years after first becoming leader, lula da silva is sworn in as brazil's new president in front of a crowd of 300,000 people. brazil has gotten through a few difficult years, it was hit hard by the pandemic, by political divide. but you speak to people here, they say this is a new beginning. after another wave of russian attacks, nato's secretary general says support for ukraine is long term. thousands gather at the vatican after the death of benedict xvi to hear pope francis pay tribute to his predecessor. translation: let us all join i together with one heart and one soul, in thanking god for this faithful servant of the gospel and the church.