The river Taff, is the jewel in the crown in the former Eastern Industrial valleys of south Wales.
The river has two distinct and different watersheds, the Fechan and the Fawr. Both rise in touching distance of each other, the Fechan flowing down the valley on the east side of Penyfan and the Fawr the west side.
Before the building of the Cyfarthfa iron works and the expansion of the iron town of Merthyr Tydfil I can only imagine what wonderful fisheries they were. First the iron works that utilised as much as possible of the river’s water supplies for the making of Iron. Then the building of the Reservoirs in both the Taf Fechan and Taf Fawr valleys changed the face of the rivers forever. Further industrialisation followed after the iron works closed and this, together with the almost total dis-regard for the environment, from industry, coal mines and other factories that continued to use the water supply of the Taff system, meant it continued to be heavily polluted.
The full story appears on page 12 of our magazine.