Lake Windermere: Untreated sewage dumped for seven continuous days into 'iconic' UK lake as weekly protest against discharges continues
Sewage has been dumped for seven continuous days into the “iconic” Lake Windermere.
Storm overflows at two water treatment plants in Cumbria have been discharging into sites that flow into Windermere since last Thursday (22 August), United Utilities figures show. Founder of the Save Windermere Campaign Matt Staniek shared the figures showing the continuous sewage discharges on X, formerly Twitter, saying: “Shouldn’t such a significant water body be protected from this exploitation?”.
Storm overflows at two water treatment plants in Cumbria have been discharging into sites that flow into Windermere, a Site of Special Scientific Interest since last Thursday, United Utilities figures show. The wastewater treatment works at Near Sawrey began discharging into Cunsey Beck, which flows from Esthwaite Water to Windermere, at 6.11am last Thursday. Similarly, Hawkshead Pumping Station started discharging at 3.27am last Thursday, which would have eventually flowed into Windermere via Cunsey Beck.
Heavy rain fell in parts of Cumbria from Wednesday (21 August) last week, with Storm Lilian bringing more wet weather from Friday (23 August). Water companies are allowed to release untreated sewage into rivers and seas when it rains heavily, to prevent homes being flooded.
United Utilities said overflows are "designed to operate during heavy rainfall, like that seen in the Lake District over recent days". The Environment Agency has previously said increased rainfall does not override water companies' responsibility "to manage storm overflows in line with legal requirements".
Staniek has been spearheading a sewage protest every Monday weekly since October last year outside United Utilities’ new information centre in Windermere. The 27-year-old campaigner and zoology graduate said he will be outside of the centre “every Monday from 9am to 10am until a commitment is made to stop putting sewage into Windermere”.
Staniek is the founder of Save Windermere, a campaign born from the statistic that over 7,000 hours of untreated sewage was flowing into Lake Windermere in 2020. According to Environment Agency data there were 246 days in 2022 when sewage was discharged by United Utilities from storm overflows into Windermere lakes.
In a social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Staniek demanding United Utilities to “stop putting s*** in our lake” and called on Greta Thunberg to join the strike as well as Feargal Sharkey, former singer and fierce sewage campaigner. Sharkey replied to his post saying: “I absolutely love this man”.
Lake Windermere is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of England’s most popular visitor destinations with over 12 million visitor days in a single year. Staniek previously described the lake as being “iconic”.
A United Utilities spokesperson said: “Storm overflows are designed to operate during heavy rainfall as we have seen in the Lake District in recent days with more than double the amount of average rainfall. So far this year, August has seen more rainfall than in any other month and it is the fourth wettest of the 44 months since January 2021. Storm overflows prevent homes and businesses from flooding. We understand and share people’s concerns about their use, which is why we have invested hundreds of millions of pounds in recent years to reduce the number of times they operate.
“We have proposed the biggest programme of investment for more than 100 years between 2025 and 2030 and this includes Elterwater, Hawkshead, Ambleside and Near Sawrey where we have proposed to reduce storm spills by 50% on 2022 figures. We continue to work with all organisations that impact water quality in the lake including farmers, septic tank owners, hotels, campsites, highways authorities and landowners to deliver the step change that we all want to see.”