Norwich City councillors have been told that saving the Wensum and the Yare could take up to 30 years, with the rivers battered by sewage spills, toxic road runoff and near-record low flows.

The warnings come after a summer of chaos in the city’s waterways.

In July, hundreds of fish died in the heart of Norwich when a downpour after weeks of drought flushed pollution from drains into the low, warm water and starved it of oxygen.

Hundreds of fish died in the Wensum this summer (Image: Archant)

Figures in a council report show a single overflow at Fye Bridge discharged into the Wensum 70 times in 2025, for a total of almost 27 days, and 79 times in 2024, for nearly 26 days.

The Wensum, one of only around 220 chalk streams in the world, runs from north-west Norfolk through the heart of the city.

The Yare, whose upper reaches are also fed by chalk, skirts Norwich’s southern........

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