PRIME Minister Boris Johnson has been challenged to drink a bottled sample of River Wye water, as scientists confirmed they are investigating the reported deaths of some 30 swans and geese upstream of Ross.

The PM was urged in the Commons last week by South Herefordshire MP Jesse Norman to press agencies to take integrated action over Wye pollution.

And Mr Johnson replied that he had once swum in the Wye at 5am and the water "tasted like nectar".

That brought a challenge from campaign group Friends of the Upper Wye (FUW) who posted a film of a five-year-old boy collecting a ’heady cocktail’ of ’polluted’ water for the PM to drink.

The challenge came as DEFRA confirmed it is investigating whether the deaths of wild birds on the river between Foy and Ross could be a result of pollution, or linked to an outbreak of bird flu in the town last week that led to the imposition of 3km and 10km control zones.

A FUW spokesperson said: "Boris Johnson told the House of Commons today that he swam in the Wye a few years ago and it tasted of ’nectar’.

"So we thought we should send the Prime Minister a bottle.

"Sadly nobody tests ecoli levels on the river, so he’ll have to take his chancesâ¦

"A heady cocktail of farm manure, sewage and other chemicals doubtless swilling around. Bottoms up!"

The group said it would send the bottle to the PM with a "consume at your own risk" warning.

And it quoted Natural Resources Wales figures revealing that 60 per cent of samples didn’t reach phosphate targets.

Huge concerns about pollution in the Wye have arisen in the past couple of years, following algal blooms making the water "like pea soup" and the absence of weed growth, with campaigners claiming farm sewage and vast-scale chicken and egg production in Herefordshire and Powys are crippling the river’s ecosystem.

In PM’s Questions last Wednesday (January 26), having faced a barrage of attacks about alleged Downing Streets lockdown parties, the leader told the Commons in reply to Mr Norman: "I had a memorable swim in the Wye myself I think at 5 o’clock in the morning once and it tasted like nectar

"I understand the problem that he raises and it is very important that our beautiful rivers should be clean as well.

"The Environment Minister will be visiting the Wye area shortly with or without his swimming trunks.

"I know that we’re urging the Welsh Government to take this matter as seriously as this Government is."

Mr Norman called on the PM to put pressure on the Environment Agency, Natural England and Natural Resources Wales to establish a single, integrated, long-term strategy to clean up the Wye, and to set up a new ring-fenced national rivers recovery fund to clean up rivers using fines paid by the water companies.

He posted afterwards: "Really glad to be able to put the very serious issue of the River Wye and phosphate pollution in the public eye again at Prime Minister’s Questions today."

Former Ross-on-Wye town mayor Cllr Daniel Lister congratulated the local MP for "keeping this issue active" and hoped "this gets sorted".

But wild swimming expert and anti-pollution campaigner Angela Jones, who takes groups on the Wye and Usk, angrily denounced the PM’s response, saying: "How disconnected can this man be from the truth!

"When will our Wye and all rivers and coastlines receive the respect they deserve?"

DEFRA in a one-line statement meanwhile confirmed the discovery of a high number of wild bird deaths on the Wye.

"We are aware of a number of wild bird deaths in the Ross-on-Wye area of Herefordshire. These deaths are currently under investigation," it said.

Last week it imposed a 3km protection zone around Ross and surrounding areas banning the movement of poultry and domestic birds following the discovery on January 20 of bird flu at a site thought to be close to the A40 on the east of the town.