Sewage is killing our wildlife and destroying our freshwater environments. Even Windermere, England’s largest lake, is not free from sewage and the Environment Agency is failing to protect it. We must Save Windermere from the profit-driven water industry and failed government regulation.
The Save Windermere campaign demands an immediate independent public inquiry into the Environment Agency’s failure to regulate the water industry, specifically in the Cumbria and Lancashire Area. This inquiry should focus on the regulation of United Utilities within the Windermere catchment in the Lake District National Park.
Additionally, the campaign calls for the removal of the Environment Agency’s board and senior management who have responsibility for the North West region.
We suspect this inquiry could highlight similar issues nationwide.
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Sewage in Windermere
Algal blooms are threatening Windermere. These blooms, caused primarily by the nutrients found in sewage, can starve the water of oxygen which can kill wildlife, whilst also posing a risk to humans and pets due to their potential toxicity.
Millions of litres of sewage is discharged into Windermere and the lakes & rivers in its catchment each year by the water company United Utilities.
Since 2020, over 18,000 hours of untreated sewage has been dumped in the catchment, with up to 13 million litres of ‘treated’ sewage permitted to be discharged each day. The largest wastewater treatment works alone is permitted to discharge up to 5.5 million litres a day directly into the south basin of Windermere.
Nutrient input in Windermere has not been reduced sufficiently to prevent algal blooms. This is a symptom of inadequate infrastructural investment, particularly in light of our changing climate. This eutrophication process led to a mass fish death in a neighbouring lake which flows into Windermere, Elterwater, in the 1990s which was due to sewage input from Langdale Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW). We have already seen the warning signs in Windermere – in the summer of 2022, Windermere saw one of the largest blue-green algal blooms ever recorded which engulfed roughly 5 miles of the lake.
By its own admission, United Utilities is the single largest contributor to algal blooms in Windermere. This admission comes even after their last investment in the catchment. They state that their treated sewage is the most significant contributor to algal blooms and, over 10 years ago, they said that “by removing all United Utilities discharges there still will be algal blooms, but their severity will be greatly reduced to the point where they may not actually be visible” (United Utilities, 2013).
Why Focus on Windermere?
The Windermere catchment is of national ecological significance and encompasses several SSSI’s and National Nature Reserves, including Esthwaite, Elterwater and Blelham Tarn. Windermere and its catchment is home to rare and protected species such as Arctic charr, Atlantic salmon, brooke, river and sea lamprey, European river otter, European eels and freshwater pearl mussels.
A 2019 study indicated that the lake and its catchment contributed close to £1 billion to the national economy, with 12 million visitor days. The lake sits at the heart of the Lake District National Park and UNESCO World Heritage site, holding both national and international significance environmentally, culturally and economically.
Windermere is a symbol of this nation’s freshwater – if the Government is failing to protect our most iconic natural assets, then they are almost certainly failing your local river too.
Failure of the Regulator
Despite the main contributor to the decline of the lake being known, the Environment Agency is not adequately monitoring or enforcing the protection of England's largest lake. This is not acceptable in a site of such significance to our environment, economy and communities.
The Save Windermere campaign believes that the Environment Agency is not fit for purpose to protect Windermere and its tributaries. There are clear failings of the regulation in the catchment and as such an inquiry into how and why this has occurred must be conducted. These failings include, but are not limited to:
The auditing of Operator Self Monitoring (OSM) – OSM sees the water companies self-reporting on breaches of permit, effectively marking their own homework.Failure to prosecute for illegality.Failure to properly investigate fish mortalities and pollution incidents.Downgrading of pollution incidents, as exposed in a recent BBC Panoramainvestigation(BBC1, 4/12/23)Lack of long-term infrastructure plans to protect Windermere.
Our Demands
By the end of 2024 the campaign advocates for:
An urgent public inquiry into the Cumbria & Lancashire division of the Environment Agency.EA to reopen the Cunsey Beck fish death investigationPermit reviews at all sites within the Windermere catchment by the first quarter of 2024, with permits updated to reflect the law which states sewage can only be spilled in exceptional circ*mstances.Independently accredited real time monitoring devices installed at all sites in the catchment. These devices should monitor phosphorus concentration and volumetrics of all untreated and treated sewage discharging. This data should be available to the public.Tightening of all discharge limits.Removal of annual averages phosphorus limits to be replaced with capped concentrations.Removal of all descriptive permits in the catchment and replacement with numeric permits.Prosecution of illegal discharging in the catchment. To include both dry spilling and discharging before flow to full treatment requirements have been met. Evidence of illegal sewage discharges in the catchment has been uncovered by Windrush Against Sewage Pollution.Investment that ensures, at a minimum, United Utilities is complying with the law and that the investment cost to bring assets up to compliance does not fall on bill payers, i.e. outside of AMP 8 investment (all illegality needs rectifying externally to this investment).All assets that have CSO discharging must have EDM monitors installed. This should include sites that are supposed to only be used in Emergency circ*mstances.
In the longer-term, Save Windermere calls for complete removal of all treated and untreated sewage discharges, as seen in Lake Annecy and Lake Washington, and for United Utilities to take ownership of all non-main drains that discharge directly into water courses. Windermere, as a freshwater lake, is unique in that it has a long retention time. Much of what goes into the lake settles to the lake bed, creating a nutrient-rich sediment. A river has flow, the coastline has a dilution factor, whilst a lake captures pollution that is dumped into it – this is why complete removal of all discharges is the only option.
Please share this petition and support us in the fight to save our lake.
About Us
Save Windermere is a registered not-for-profit Community Interest Company (14689574), campaigning to end sewage pollution in the Windermere catchment in the Lake District National Park. We receive no government money and rely on the donations of our supporters. Through data collection, legal avenues, political lobbying and awareness-driving activities, our team campaigns to influence government policy and industrial practice. Our mission is to end all sewage discharges into the Windermere catchment and ensure the long-term protection of England’s most iconic lake. Learn more at savewindermere.com.
