The River Wye, one of the UK’s top five rivers, has been turned into a garbage dump because of industrial waste being dumped in it. Journalists and conservationists investigated and found that foreign micro-organisms were destroying the water’s natural environment and killing fish, according to The Guardian.
The river between Wales and England, which a few years ago was crystal clear, is now ‘suffocating’ with green-brown diatom algae and sewage fungi. The new vegetation and micro-organisms are not letting in the light the Wye inhabitants need. The pollution of the water area by sewage has been blamed on representatives of agricultural companies who have discharged field and farm waste containing pesticides and other hazardous substances into the river. Although the Wye falls under numerous protection laws, it is still a victim of environmental collapse, say the investigation.
The experts point out that in the UK, poultry farms and pig and cattle farms are not required to obtain special environmental permits. None of the authorities fully assess the environmental impact of manure and other animal wastes. Yet agriculture is the biggest source of pollution to rivers in the United Kingdom.
In June, a British farmer gained worldwide notoriety by unveiling his installation for mining cryptocurrency using manure. The man decided to convert animal excrement into methane. The inventor burns the greenhouse gas and thus provides electricity to the farm and the apparatus for the digital currency.