AFTER months of searching for any sign of aquatic life, a team of dedicated specialists has spotted a fish swimming in the River Usk.

Like its sister river, the Wye, the Usk has been pumped so full of pollution in recent years that experts had long given up hope of ever seeing a brown trout or salmon grace its running waters ever again.

The once-crystal-clear river has long turned a strange shade of foul in parts.

Campaigners have long accused Welsh Water of pumping above the legal discharge limit at all its treatment plants, leading to dangerously high phosphate readings.

Natural Resources Wales has previously dismissed such claims as “citizen data” and explained, “The challenges facing our rivers are complex, and while we are taking urgent action to improve water quality, it will take time to see the real-time improvements we all want to see.”

The campaign to Save The River Usk points out that in 2021, the amount of phosphate pollution in the Usk was higher than in any other Welsh river.

They, “Fertiliser run-off from agriculture, human and animal waste, and industrial effluent are all contributing to the rise of phosphate levels and dismal decline in the health of the river. “

For more details, you can visit savetheriverusk.org and watch the documentary “River Usk - The River that was lost?”

Recently, more than 1,300 people have signed a petition to sue Avara Foods , its subsidiary Freemans of Newent, and Welsh Water for pollution in both the Usk and the Wye.

It is being championed as the UK’s biggest ever environmental pollution claim.

The legal team representing Avara and Freemans has said the claim that they have contributed to river pollution is “entirely inferential and is an oversimplification”.

Nevertheless, both the Usk and Wye have stopped running clear and are running out of time.

So, as you can imagine, the sight of a solitary fish swimming through a soup of filth has inspired those who felt the Usk would remain devoid of life forever.

One tearful onlooker who watched the fat trout slowly wade its indifferent way through the polluted water spoke for us all when they said, “Is this what hope feels like?”

We are, of course, joking. Fortunately, there are still plenty of fish in the River Usk. Just not as many as there used to be, and their numbers are dwindling all the time.

Atlantic Salmon numbers are thought to have declined by over 90 percent since 2000, and young salmon (fry) numbers are so low it has been been put on the endangered species list.

As salmon is a keystone species, without it, other river residents such as otters will be on the back foot.

Sea Trout, shad, lamprey, and European eel numbers are also a mere shadow of their former glory.

Despite the news that Welsh Water will shell out £44.7 million to compensate for its "serious and unacceptable" failures, the damage has been done.

The Usk won’t fix itself, and before it reaches a crisis point of no return, more awareness needs to be raised, and more action needs to be taken, if our rivers are to keep running clean and free.