Every English river is polluted and intensive animal agriculture most to blame, Parliament report finds
NEWS: England’s cherished waterways are awash with animal faeces, microplastics and chemicals according to the findings of a report by the Environmental Audit Committee - and intensive chicken and livestock farming is one of the leading causes.
Slurry and run-off from livestock and poultry farms, in particular, is adding faecal matter and pathogens, microplastics, phosphorus, nitrates, and substances such as veterinary medicines to the “chemical cocktail” entering even England’s most pristine rivers, the report said.
“Intensive livestock and poultry farming is putting enormous pressure on particular catchments, such as the one feeding the River Wye. As many as twenty million chickens are being reared there and their waste may be raising the river’s phosphorus levels,” said the report. “New poultry farms should not be granted planning permission in catchments exceeding their nutrient budgets.”
Sewage works were also singled out as a major contributor to the pollution, plus car tyre particles, oils and wet wipes. However intensive livestock and poultry farming were blamed as the leading cause with calls to block planning permission for new farms in problem areas.
“We believe that [the farming] industry remains the greatest threat to the future health of riverine ecology throughout England,” said Salmon and Trout Conservation, quoted in the report. “Albeit that pollution from sewage treatment works is still a major threat, especially in rural sites where infrastructure investment has been severely lacking”
Intensive arable farming was also found to be contributing to the problem in many parts of the country. Both fertilizers and animal manure from livestock farming introduce excess levels of phosphorous and nitrogen into soil and river sediment, resulting in algal blooms that lower river oxygen levels and are devastating to local wildlife.
However, in the Wye - a catchment area being studied by university researchers - the phosphorus surplus is nearly 60 per cent greater than the national average and “is driven by the large amounts of livestock manure being produced locally.”
Richard Bramley, Chair of the National Farmers Union’s Environment Forum, disputed the link between phosphorus concentrations and the poultry farms, citing a previous report by Natural Resources Wales which stated that “the overall pattern of failures in the Wye does not support the hypothesis that poultry units are the main or even a particularly important reason for nutrient failures on the Wye” and that local sewage works had to be taken into account.
The NFU did not however address the contributions other types of animal agriculture to phosphorus levels. Researchers stated that while poultry farming was contributing 42 per cent of phosphorus flows in the research catchment, cows and sheep accounted for 27 per cent and 28 per cent respectively.
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The Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC), which submitted evidence for the report, condemned animal agriculture, arguing that “intensive livestock operations have been allowed to proliferate with little regard to the cumulative impacts generated from the associated volumes of manure.
“The intensive livestock industry should no longer be allowed to avoid responsibility for its waste outputs and should be required to contribute to the public costs,” the FFCC added.
The Environmental Audit Committee report put forward suggestions on how to tackle the problem of excess phosphorous and nitrogen, including transporting manure from livestock farms to arable farms in other parts of the country. However, this would require the government to undertake research into the practicality of converting manure to biofertilisers and add to the already high carbon footprint of animal agriculture from vehicle emissions.
This isn’t the first time the water quality of England’s rivers and waterways has been cast into doubt. In September 2020, data published by the UK Environment Agency revealed that just 14 per cent of English rivers were of good ecological standard, and none were found to have good chemical status due to sewage discharges and agricultural and industrial chemicals entering the water system.
“How we produce our food has a direct effect on the land, water, and air around us,” said Jasmijn de Boo, Vice President at ProVeg International, writing for Surge in June. “Manure including ammonia, nitrogen, and other chemicals and greenhouse gas emissions don’t just disappear once released from a farm, industrial plant, or other sources.”
“Nitrates, contaminants such as bacteria, and other waste products are absorbed into the water table where they linger in the groundwater. They reach rivers, lakes, and the world’s oceans, where they cause algal blooms and the degradation of water quality and aquatic life, ultimately affecting not just biodiversity, but also oxygen production and global weather systems, which in turn exacerbate climate change.”
In September, the Netherlands announced plans to slash livestock numbers by as much as 30 per cent in an effort to tackle its ongoing “nitrogen crisis” highlighting yet another consequence of manure run-off in waterways. As reported by Surge, manure when mixed with urine releases ammonia, a nitrogen compound, which is toxic to aquatic species.
The news from the Netherlands came just days after Friends of the Earth released its Meat Atlas report, which highlighted the failure of any government to enact legislation directly addressing the impact of animal agriculture on the environment.
The report found that 20 meat and dairy producers were emitting more greenhouse gases than three of Europe’s largest economies - Germany, France or Britain - flying in the face of calls to greatly reduce the impact of the livestock sector on the environment.
Andrew Gough is Media and Investigations Manager for Surge.
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