Meeting Notes from January 2024 (Taken by Moira Williams):
NRW: Positive news about Teifi Demonstrator Project set up. Application in for Offwat grant of £2m with more funding from DCWW – 15 stakeholder groups involved – to tie in with Dem Proj. To look at new ways of collaborative working, innovative ways to tackle river issues and land management. Hackthon event planned 28/29 Feb in Aberystwyth to gather ideas for project.
DCWW: drinking water catchment team – plans for monitoring equipment to be fitted at Llechryd upstream of works, to monitor any changes before water reaches the works. Will be solar powered and test for dissolved oxygen, temp, ammonia, turbidity; nitrates and phos will still be dip-sampled as online monitoring still not robust enough. Plane to fit it at Glan Teifi by the NRW mon station. Potential to also see future mitigation from a Cenarth wetlands installation. Will take 12 months to get set up, then another 12 months to get first data baseline set to be shared – plans for open sharing online.
DCWW: waste water – DCWW to contribute at least 10% of Offwat grant – £2000. Live monitoring programme on the Teifi in development. Asset monitoring to be assessed re priority. Talks with CeCC re wetlands feasibility. Data re Cilgerran is better than permit – needed phos levels of 5, but reading 2.5 thus no immed need of wetlands. Were 12 works being assessed – 3 have gone through to next level of assessment, incl Cenarth
NRW: Agri team for farm visits – 500 to be done in catchment. 93 farms with over 500 head, 346 with 200-500 head – high risk farms. Another team will visit remaining smaller farms.
River4Life – Tackling riparian strips on farms with land on the Teifi tributaries. $.5km of fencing put in, 1000 trees to be planted in the next week. Re-meandering plans for the Teifi on Cors Caron – feasibility ongoing with landowners and heavy metal analysis.
INNS (invasive Non Native Species) – Himalayan balsam problems in Tregaron, Nant Coy and Dulais – working with WWRT to map areas. Plans to hit hard again next year. Cych and Hirwaen have rust trials – awaiting spring to see if rust has survived. Some ongoing issues re getting the right rusts from Nepal. Also problems with Skunk Cabbage at Henllan, Old Cilgyn and the Ceri.
NRW in process of reviewing DVWW permits – 27 assets in this round. List of permits on NRW website.
Incidents – Jan – Dec 2023 152 reported to NRW. 98 Ceredigion, 26 Carm, 26 Pembs. 103 were water related pollution (NRW asked to bring detailed breakdown to next meeting) Bathing water at Poppit still classed as excellent. Failures flagged by Water Framework Directive are ongoing – invertebrates, fish – see Water Watch Wales on NRW website.
CeCC: PRAM project has ended – more SUDS fitted in Lampeter, Cors Caron carpark. 4 more farm visits in Ceredigion – small ones most problems.Farmer worry re new regs/NVZ, slurry storage issues, financial worries. Ceri and Hirwaun flagged again.
Sustainable Farming Scheme drop in dates for farmers arranged.
STT: No NMB meeting last month as no updates to report from the working groups (Citizen Sci, Monitoring, Agri).