Our iconic canal is under threat. Apparently, the water is running out and it could soon bleed dry.

Although a lack of water in Wales, which seems to spend at least a third of every year labouring under rain clouds, might seem strange, it’s a very real issue.

The River Usk, which for decades has generously and regularly donated a little of its own ever-flowing supply to keep the barges bobbing on the canal, has got a climate emergency of its own going on and hasn’t any more water to spare.

The Seven Estuary needs it more and extraction is proving too costly in both an environmental and financial sense. Although it's been hinted at the an arrangement could be reached if the price was right, it looks likely the taps could be soon turned off and our beloved canal will be left to rot and ruin.

Unless, in the spirit of those visionary pioneers and captains of industry of yesteryear, something bold and innovative is pulled out of the hat, we could soon be referring to the canal as Wales’s dustbowl and a fine example of bureaucratic folly.

After all, if they managed to build the canal with nothing but some horses, a few pick axes, and a handful of men with a can-do attitude and a shovel, surely the powers that be can put their heads together, and come up with a workable solution?

No-one’s being asked to reinvent the wheel, just maintain a historical legacy and thing of great beauty that is not only a recreational area used to de-stress and unwind, but the home of many, and a tourist attraction for the world.

Like everyone else, the Chronicle is keen to protect a jewel in the UK’s crown, so let’s remind ourselves of what we really stand to lose with a few pictures of something special.