The Angling Trust report that Betws-y-Coed Anglers are celebrating after Dwr Cymru/ Welsh Water brought in a new treatment system to deal with excess sewage which was being discharged into the River Llugwy on a regular basis. This follows years of campaigning by Fish Legal on behalf of the angling club.
The new system has been introduced to deal with overflows of poorly treated sewage, generated by influxes of visitors to Betws y Coed, particularly on busy holiday weekends.
The “Biological Mobile Unit” was introduced in April just before the bank holiday. In previous years the local villagers, many of whom are anglers, repeatedly complained to the Environment Agency about condoms and sanitary towels in the river. Dwr Cymru did nothing for many years to clean up its act, to the frustration of the anglers and Agency staff. However, since the new unit arrived, bank holidays have passed and the summer holiday period has arrived without the usual sight of sewage debris near the works.
The move by Dwr Cymru to introduce this state of the art system comes hot on the heels of the Agency’s welcome decision to change the sewage permit to include upper limits for treated sewage flowing into the river from the works – something for which Fish Legal has campaigned vigorously for years.
Tony Godbert from the Betws-y-Coed Anglers commented:
“We have worked hard with Fish Legal and the Environment Agency to try and combat this pollution problem on the River Llugwy. We are very pleased with this positive progress and that the river, its ecology and the fish it supports are at last receiving protection. We would like to thank everyone involved for their hard work in achieving this.”
Justin Neal of Fish Legal said:
“We were first alerted to the problems faced by the Llugwy when the Betws-y-Coed Anglers contacted us in 2007. That’s a long time to wait for change. But the move by Dwr Cymru is a positive one for the river. The Environment Agency staff – including Sian Williams and Euryn Roberts – have worked hard to resolve this long term issue. Let’s hope that we don’t have any repeat pollutions in the future and this lovely river can be left alone to recover.”
