Yesterday I walked almost the whole length of the river Einion, and the signs of improvement over the past 10 yrs have vanished overnight. Fish are all but non-existent (where there would have been 8 to a dozen showing there are 1 or none), and flylife is at a low ebb as well.
It's never been rich, but it's worse than I've ever seen it. Sadly it's got an enormous conifer plantation in the valley above - stretching for miles.



The Einion is my 'home' water, I grew up only 30yds from the river, and I've seen 3 fish kills on the river so far - 2 were sheep dip (OP) and one was acid rain. It's heartbreaking. The acid rain was definitely worse, the river took much longer to recover, and the effects were consitent over the whole length of the river.

I wondered whether the extended dry spells with an Easterly wind (carrying sulphates and other pollutants) for weeks over the Winter, coupled with a lot of clear-felling of conifers in the headwaters was the cause? I think it must be a big dose of acid rain, and high aluminium concentrations from the soil erosion that are to blame.

Are there were any studies on water quality on the River Einion, or other affected rivers in West Wales recently? If someone has any information I'd love to see it.

As a contrast (and to check what I had observed) I then popped over to the river Llyfnant, which is out of the big conifer plantations influence - there were plenty of fish in evidence - small trout and parr. Stonefly nymphs and caddis on the rocks. Plenty of hatched insects about - a very different picture from the Einion desert just 2 miles away (as the crow flies) - the only difference is those headwaters and conifers.

Don't want to depress anyone, but Acid Rain is still a major problem here in Wales.

Cheers

Duncan

Hi Dunk, if you google acid deposition you'll be on the right track - here's one result that was relevant.
http://www.macaulay.ac.uk/recover/Wales.htm

The real bummer is that upland conifers not only add to the acidification problem but also receive a cypermethrin based spray from a largely unregulated workforce on the second year of their planting. The chemical is delivered by back pack spray to kill pine weevil and may well be responsible for pollution incidents hitherto blamed on sheep farmers.
This has been brought to the attention of the EA so eventually those practices may change but unfortunately the rain and forestry looks like being a regular feature.

One of the Teifi tribs at its headwaters, the Afon Berwyn, is being treated for the effects of extreme acidification by annual doses of limestone chippings. It will be interesting if that measure will be as successful as the liming of Llyn Berwyn which has a very abundant invertebrate population since Tregaron AA have added limestone to counteract the high rainfall that area receives as well as the all encircling forestry.

It would be a good idea to take PH readings in tandem with invertebrate kick sampling programmes to monitor that aspect of water ecology, it's something I'll be suggesting after the hols.

Edit -s/b http://www.macaulay.ac.uk/recover/HESS459-476.htm

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Thanks for that Diawl!

I had a hand in getting a special ITV Wales (Wales this Week) programme on Cypermethryn aired in June 2007. I was aiming to highlight the issues surrounding it, after seeing an appallingly shallow programme by the BBC around 8 months earlier. Did you see it? I got Matt Shardlow from Buglife and we had the EA and a great guy from the Salmon and Trout Association, along with farmers who were concerned about using it because of the possibility of it escaping into the environment. At the time I wasn't aware of the use by the Forestry Commission! I would have included it if I had.

I'll contact the EA and see if they are planning to do a study. If they're there they could take some moss samples to test for Cypermethryn. I think in this case acid rain is the main culprit, although any Cypermethryn is only going to have made matters worse.

It'll be interesting to see how the Teifi tributaries react to the chippings.

Cheers

Duncan

Missed that one Dunk - opportunistic TV watching habits (and the dire consequences) to blame as usual.
I've heard there's a study being undertaken on the effects of SP in foresty later this year. No doubt any changes in this area will be as slow as those in the farming industry despite the weight of evidence indicating the toxicity of cypermethrin.
Sorry to hear your home water has been wiped, take heart that this certainly isn't irreversible. Perhaps a TV prog on it's reinstatement would be interesting viewing. I'd watch it if I wasn't making a poor channel hopping decision on seeing Deadliest Catch again.
The weird thing is that these sterile rivers look very appealing, crystal clear but eerily empty while the post industrial Welsh rivers like the Taff are full of crud but bursting with life.

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Do you mean Cypermethryn - the fact that it's still being used, still killing? I'll see what I can do. I couldn't find anything about Cypermethryn and conifer plantations online - do you have any links?
Perhaps a programme on the effects of acid rain wouldn't go amiss either.

I'll contact the EA and see if they're interested in the Einion water quality.

Cheers

Duncan

It was a programme on acidity in headwaters that really interested me Dunk. The trend to planting the uplands with conifers coupled with acid rain is an interesting mix.
One of the issues in liming these areas is that the high wetlands in Wales are inherently acid and liming can destroy or affect that ecology.

Wye and Usk have spread limestone in the wetlands that feed their tribs

http://www.wyeuskfoundation.org/prob...dification.php

Here's a link on cypermethrin in forestry -

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-5TUFYN

The insecticide guidelines which absolve the manufacturer from any liability for its misuse-

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/pdf.nsf/pdf/alphaguard.pdf/$file/alphaguard.pdf

The premise for the removal of this chemical is that it can't be used safely as it inevitably finds its way into water courses.
The guidelines on using another cypermethrin based insecticide, Cyper - Plus or Forester are practically unworkable -

http://www.skogforsk.se/templates/SF...____12319.aspx

I can put you in touch with someone whose son is undertaking a PhD studying cypermethrin in forestry if you'd like to get some more detail.
Afonnyd Cwmru, the umbrella organisation of the river trusts in Wales is pursuing this matter so with luck these insecticides will be withdrawn eventually.

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