South Wales water activist, the ‘Wild Woman of the Wye’, explains why she’s busier than ever teaching people how to protect rivers and waterways in their area
“It’s a 90% ecologically dead river,” remarks wild swimmer, activist and campaigner Angela Jones as she discusses her campaign to save her beloved River Wye on our latest podcast.
Jones has dedicated the last six years of her life to fighting to save the River Wye in South Wales, and works tirelessly to help others take action in their local areas too, as water pollution issues have gripped communities up and down the UK recently and triggered national outrage.
The River Wye is the poster child for water safety issues right now, largely due to Angela’s creative methods of raising awareness. While the Wye, alongside a number of other UK rivers, has experienced a dramatic rise in sewage and waste being pumped into its waters, which has led to the river becoming increasingly polluted and declared “ecologically dead.”
Angela has staged a number of protests in support of the river. She was frustrated at getting no responses to her campaigning so decided to do something drastic. In 2021, Jones swam down the Wye, towing a coffin with the words ‘Death of the Wye’ written on the side.
A year later, she took aim at Tesco and the Happy Eggs company over the impact of chickens and intensive poultry farming on the Wye. Angela said how there are “24 million chickens” living next to the Wye now and their waste running off into the water is having a devastating impact on the river’s health. To hammer home the point, she swam down the Wye with a giant egg box with the words ‘Crappy Eggs’ painted on the side.
Angela also helps set up and support local campaign groups, teaching people how to protect rivers and waterways in their local area. As well as guidance and advice, she provides groups with water testing kits. These tests, which only take 20 minutes to complete, measure the levels of chemicals and pollutants in the water, so people know the state of the water before getting in.
“I teach people about that respect for the water first,” says Angela. Advising people about to swim to challenge their assumptions by assuming the water isn’t safe first. “Also check it out for currents and eddys,” she adds. Finally, figure out both your entrance point and exit spot before getting in.
Angela has been very vocal about her campaigning online and in the media. She regularly gives interviews and recently protested on BBC’s Newsnight, highlighting the state of UK rivers.
Sewage spills into England’s rivers and seas by water companies more than doubled last year. According to the Environment Agency there were 3.6 million hours of spills compared to 1.75 million hours in 2022.
A more in-depth interview with Angela features in Plunge’s second print issue, where you can find out more about her day-to-day activities. To hear even more from her, tune into our latest podcast Deep Dive: The Environment Episode on SoundCloud and Spotify.