My River is running Brown-Yr Afon Llwyd

Noticed this the other day…The Grey River flows from Blaenavon to the Usk at Caerleon.
Never seen it this colour-apparently down to pollution from old mine workings.
Pictures from South Wales Argus.
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It’s normally this colour.
My video.

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could be campers, peeing in it

:sweat_smile: :open_mouth:.,.,.

It looks like Iron Ore deposits or sand/mud swirled up by the current higher upstream if the river is higher than usual.

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A spokesperson from NRW pinpointed the true cause on Sunday.

“By working closely with the The Coal Authority we have confirmed the source of mine water pollution as the Cwmsychan Brook Culvert, a former iron works site near Abersychan in Torfaen,” they said.

They added that by Sunday the discolouration had subsided leaving the water much clearer, “although orange sediment remains on the riverbed”.

Has the environment been damaged?

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I just saw the river in Cwmbran and it is looking a normal colour now.

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Good news … :+1:

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That’s what I was thinking Foxy.
Back in the day my part of West Sussex was heavily involved in the iron industry and the production of charcoal to fire the kilns. Iron used for Tudor cannon was smelt just a stones throw away.

There’s a local stream nearby that sometimes runs brown with iron waste.

My son spotted this piece of iron slag laying on the ground close to such a stream in a local wood. You can clearly see the now solidified bubbles and a small hole where I’m guessing some of the gasses must have escaped.

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