Welsh Rivers Union

Communities Taking Back Their Rivers

Welsh rivers as a whole have never been under such pressure. The trendlines are clear and we are seeing further degradation of their vital signs and a significant reduction in biodiversity. The Welsh Rivers Unions reason to be is to campaign to turn this around.

Only when communities take ownership of the health of their rivers and streams will change happen. We are here to support you!

We will be outlining our approach in the coming weeks but a basic tenet is for communities to be aware of the state of their rivers and give them the tools and processes to get change and improvement implemented. Its sad to say but since the 1970’s Governments, Institutions,  NGO’s and charities have failed to turn the negative trendlines around. Let’s try another way.  Each river or stream has its own character and challenges all of which can be tackled and improved. Give nature a chance and it always responds.

 

Welsh Rivers Union

What We Do

Welsh Rivers Union represents our river systems. Giving our rivers a voice. We will be entirely funded by communities or trusts dedicated to improving overall environmental conditions. Our aim is to not exist, by getting the institutions of government, regulatory organisations, companies and businesses to meet their obligations on protecting and improving Wales natural environment. Healthy rivers are fundamental to this and a basic right to hand on to future generations.

Our next three months targets are:

  1. Build a community wide diverse advisory team. Bringing a broad set of skills and knowledge to address the challenges our river catchments face.
  2. Define the key campaigns for year 1 and 2 that will bring the fastest change to the state.
  3. Set the key performance indicators (KPI’s) that tell us we are getting success. Evidence-based improvements
  4. Engage with all key stakeholders, Welsh Government, Natural Resources Wales, Welsh Water, The Agricultural Sector, Incl. farming Unions, Local county and town councils, business and corporates that leverage off the natural world.  Make the state of our rivers a future generation issue.
  5. Build a policy portfolio backed up by evidence to present to Welsh Government.
  6. Provide access to all data that is gathered from WG, Natural Resources Wales, Dwr Cymru / Welsh Water and other stakeholders. This will include. River Surveys, Ecological Surveys, Combined Sewage Overflow ( CSO) data, habitat surveys.
Welsh Rivers Union

Who We Are

We are a group of volunteers who want to see change actually happen for the benefit of our rivers and indirectly the humans that live around them.  If you would like to be involved, we welcome everyone. get in contact via info@wru.org.uk. We want open and diverse voices with skills that can speak up for our rivers, whether it’s words, pictures, sounds, ideas or just passion we all need to be involved.

Take a look at our advisory board, want to join?

We all have “skin in the game” so join us and make a difference for all future generations.

Latest News

“Changes in the law with respect to NVZ (Nitrate Vulnerable Zones) are a step in the right direction. But there are so many more tasks to achieve to turn the ecological trendlines around”

A. Jones

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