To my great delight I led groups of would be PE teachers on week-long canoe camping trips down the River Wye. This spanned a ten-year period from 1974 to 1984. In that time I calculate that I must have canoed 1,000 miles of the river. They were wonderful times. We were lucky enough to have private campsites down the length of the journey from Witney on Wye to Tintern Abbey. Our trips were always in June and I can only remember sunny weather.

In those far off days the River Wye was crystal clear. Swans would carefully watch us as we glided passed them and their young. Fishermen could be seen with their salmon catches. One afternoon a pike leapt over the front of my canoe. In every way this unspoilt river was about as perfect as it is possible to be. Students would happily swim in its pure water after a hard hot day of paddling. The long meander to Symonds Yat was rewarded by a quick descent of the rapids before pitching tent and making a visit to the Ferry Boat Inn. 

Today our rivers are a disaster. This once beautiful river is now polluted with chemical run off. It is a national tragedy. Water is an essential part of nature. Our rivers and our beaches have been allowed to be contaminated by reckless mismanagement. So bad is the River Thames that rowers are frightened of catching e-coli infection from the pollution. I first learnt to Eskimo roll in the Thames. This is not something possible today.

Water companies have failed to invest but continue to pay huge salaries to their top officials and give dividends to shareholders. They now recognise the need to invest and expect the public to pay for their failures. It is criminal that this situation has been allowed to go unchecked over many years. It is a national disgrace.

Perhaps it is typical of the British psyche that we just complain without any real action. We are captured by the water companies as we have no choice but to have the water company in our area. We have not made nearly enough fuss. Surfers are at the forefront of the campaign for water quality to be improved but to date little progress has been achieved.

A solution to this water crisis will require radical drastic action. Fines should be imposed on those causing the pollution. Rapid upgrade of water capture is required. Sewage systems need a major overall. Perhaps it is time for nationalisation. That profits are made and invested in overseas projects is outrageous.

One can only hope that in the long-term rivers like the Wye can be restored to their full health. We should be under no illusions that the pollution issue is such that any remedy will take a considerable time and require millions of pounds of investment.

Oh how I miss the River Wye in all its pristine glory.