Since 2025, a Bristol, England, resident has been gathering evidence of what the BBC described as an oily substance surfacing in the River Avon while continuing to press authorities to act.
That persistence may be paying off. After she kept filing reports and sharing photos of dead wildlife, officials reopened an inquiry they had closed after initially treating the issue as surface run-off.
Here's what to know
In early 2025, Nicola Irvine, who lives in the Crews Hole area of Bristol, said she noticed two worrying signs on the River Avon: a harsh smell and a rainbow sheen on the water.
As the BBC reported, she contacted the Environment Agency in July of that year because she believed the pollution was coming up from beneath the river rather than being caused by boats.
The agency initially treated the issue as surface run-off, but it reopened the case in May of this year after Irvine kept submitting evidence, including photos of dead wildlife.
"I've been so frustrated with the EA. It feels like pulling teeth trying to get any action from them," Irvine told the BBC.
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"It's hard to describe how bad the smell is — at times, it's like you're living on a petrol station and you start getting headaches," said her partner, Toby White.
The Environment Agency asserted it had already visited the site and that investigations were ongoing.
"While minor impacts have been found where the contamination has entered the watercourse, we have not found wider environmental effects downstream," an EA spokesperson told the BBC.
The news outlet reported that a leaked internal EA document from back in 2022 indicated staff were told to ignore lower-impact pollution because funding was limited.
More background
The agency's investigation suggested possible pollution connected to a former tar works in the area that operated from the mid-19th century into the 1980s. Still, investigators say further confirmation is needed.
Irvine said the summer 2026 heat waves made the situation worse, including the smell. She also warned that wildlife appears to have declined sharply along the affected stretch of river.
In 2024, The Guardian reported that a nonprofit-supported citizen science program
noted declines in invertebrate populations that it linked to chemicals in the River Avon in Wiltshire.
In 2025, Here and Now reported on a group of swimmers petitioning the government for the river to receive "bathing status" so that it would regularly be tested for pollution.
Where can I learn more?
Elsewhere, reporting has tracked microplastics in British seas, a river die-off in Ireland, and a U.S. fight over ballast-water rules:
• In British waters, scientists are getting a more troubling picture of how microplastics are harming marine life.
• In Ireland, thousands of river animals died amid a highly potent pollutant in the water.
• U.S. attorneys general warned that ballast-water rules could foster the spread of harmful creatures in waterways.
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