River Teifi ranks UK's fifth most polluted river

The River Teifi has been ranked the fifth most sewage-polluted river in the UK, with 2,232 spills recorded in 2024, lasting over 22,000 hours.

In the previous year, the river which forms the boundary between Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire was ninth in the rankings.

Several other local rivers, including the Solva, Cleddau, Nevern, Ystwyth, and Rheidol, also experienced significant sewage dumping.

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water said it is investing more than £25m in the Teifi area and £2.5bn across Wales to tackle phosphate pollution and improve water quality.

The Teifi shares its fifth place with other heavily polluted rivers in the UK like the Avon, Trent and Ouse.

According to figures from campaign group Surfers Against Sewage, other rivers in mid and west Wales were also polluted:

• The River Solva was polluted by sewage 58 times, lasting over 944 hours
• The River Cleddau was polluted 953 times, lasting over 10,838 hours
• The River Nevern was polluted 347 times, lasting over 5,181 hours
• The Ystwyth and Rheidol rivers in Aberystwyth were polluted 246 times, lasting over 1,844 hours.

A Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water spokesperson said it was investing more than £20m to redevelop the Cardigan Wastewater Treatment works, which is known to be a major contributor to spills in the Teifi.

An additional £5m will be spent on three other Teifi sites to improve the river's water quality.

It added: "The main reason for the problems on the Teifi is phosphate pollution, 66 per cent of that polluting load comes from land use and agriculture, 30 per cent from treatment works and three per cent of the problem is from storm overflows."

With over 2,300 storms overlflows in Wales due to its high number of assets, rural infrastructure, and heavy rainfall, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water said it was committed to improving the environment.

The company plans to invest £2.5bn over the next five years, including £889m to investigate and improve storm overflows.