10. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the effect of agricultural pollution on Welsh rivers? OQ58423

Thank you. The assessment of water quality and the impacts of pollution, including from agricultural sources, is carried out by Natural Resources Wales to support the delivery of regulatory requirements, development of river basin management plans and to identify potential interventions where improvements are required.

Thank you, Minister. The Environment Agency modelling suggests that the sources of pollution in the Wye come predominantly from agriculture. Phosphorous pollution is known to cause the process of eutrophication in rivers, a highly problematic issue that causes excessive growth of algae, which smothers and blocks out light for other aquatic plants and animals. NRW said that

'phosphorus breaches are widespread within Welsh SAC rivers with over 60% of waterbodies failing against the challenging targets set.'

Does the Minister now agree with me that such targets need to be a legal requirement, not just a target?

Thank you. Well, the First Minister issued a written statement on 1 August, and that really set out a detailed programme of work and actions agreed at the summit he held at the Royal Welsh Show in July to tackle phosphorus pollution in Wales's special areas of conservation rivers. There is no single measure, I think, that will solve this crisis. There’s no quick fix and I think what the First Minister wanted to portray from that summit was that we need a team Wales approach, where we have the Government, the regulators and all relevant sectors working together over the immediate and medium term to realise those long-term results we want to see to improve the water quality in our rivers.

I thank the Minister for that item.