Good news to start the day: Supermarkets are funding the construction of wetlands on poultry farms after coming under public pressure to combat the pollution killing the River Wye. Retailers such as Marks & Spencer and Tesco are paying for schemes to tackle pollution created by farmers who supply them with chickens and eggs, after high-profile campaigns and reports highlighting the growing levels of chicken manure in the river.
The first wetland designed to remove phosphorus from the watercourse in the Wye and Usk catchment has been built on a farm which produces free-range eggs for M&S and Noble Foods, which owns the Happy Egg Co brand. The Wye and Usk Foundation is an environmental charity that restores and protects the ecology and fisheries of the two rivers. They said it had recorded a 53 per cent drop in phosphorus levels in the water flowing from the new wetland in the first year of the project. High phosphate levels can cause algal blooms which consume a lot of oxygen and can starve other creatures in the river.
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