Pipe Dreams? The Legal Right United Utilities Doesn’t Want You to Know About
Today, Save Windermere has launched a new initiative to empower local residents and businesses with a step-by-step guide on how they can request United Utilities to take ownership of non-mains discharges in the catchment.
For years, we have pushed for existing legislation to be used to connect properties to the mains, yet United Utilities and the government have failed to act. So, we’ve taken matters into our own hands. This solution-focused campaign, backed by Patagonia and local businesses, is the first of its kind in the area.
Read on to learn more and find out how you can take action at the bottom of this blog.
Save Windermere’s Guide for Connecting to the Mains
Our new guide is designed for property owners with private sewage treatment plants and septic tanks, showing them how to request a connection to United Utilities’ mains infrastructure. This is a key part of our 10-point plan for a sewage-free Windermere, which we published ahead of last year’s general election.
Both United Utilities and the Environment Agency have highlighted non-mains sewerage as a contributor to nutrient loading in Windermere—but neither has proposed a solution. Today’s campaign launch makes clear why these private systems are costly to maintain, technologically limited, and ultimately unsustainable. Yet under existing legislation, a long-term solution already exists—with the cost burden falling on United Utilities if schemes are approved.
Save Windermere is now working with prominent local businesses in Skelwith Bridge and across the Windermere area to support their applications to United Utilities. Chesters by the River, Neaum Crag Estate and the Holbeck Ghyll Estate have invested thousands of pounds in their systems but continue to face technological limitations. Despite maintaining their sites to the manufacturer’s specifications, pollution risks remain—highlighting the urgent need for a long-term solution. These businesses have consistently done all they can to ensure the environmental protection of the local area. Shockingly, none of these businesses were even made aware of their legal right to request a mains connection before being approached by Save Windermere.
While mains connection is not a universal solution, targeted projects must be prioritised in areas where they will have the greatest environmental impact. By strategically identifying high-risk sites, resources can be directed where they will achieve the most significant reduction in pollution, ensuring long-term environmental benefits.
We consider areas with large population fluctuations that strain local infrastructure a higher priority than, for example, a single property 600m from a watercourse discharging into a leach field. For Save Windermere the priority is long term impact, excluding sites that will likely not pass the cost-benefit analysis.
Sewage discharges remain the single largest source of nutrient loading in Windermere, particularly phosphorus, which fuels toxic algal blooms that smother aquatic life and pose serious health risks to lake users. These blooms are intensified by climate change, as prolonged warm, dry weather exacerbates their severity. Despite some improvements in nutrient levels since the 1990s, algal biomass remains a persistent issue, particularly in the north basin of the lake, while deep-level oxygen concentrations continue to decline.
This underscores the urgent need to tackle the root causes of pollution, rather than relying on short-term mitigation measures, which is all the water industry and regulators are currently proposing. A mains sewage connection is the only viable long-term solution—and we’re working to ensure United Utilities is held accountable for making it happen.
Section 101A of the Water Industry Act 1991
This law grants property owners the right to request a connection to the public sewer system if an existing private sewage system (serving two or more premises or a locality) is causing or is likely to cause environmental or amenity issues. Under this process:
The water company must assess the options, comparing costs and benefits of public vs. private solutions to determine the best approach.
If approved, the company must fund the installation of a new public sewer, extending at least to the curtilage of the properties requesting connection.
If the private individual is unsatisfied with United Utilities' approach, they have the right to lodge a dispute with the Environment Agency, which will act as a third-party mediator.
Despite the long-term environmental benefits this solution provides, United Utilities has only ever completed one first-time sewerage scheme around Windermere.
While non-mains drainage contributes some sewage to Windermere, United Utilities remains the largest source of pollution, driving algal blooms that have placed the lake in the national spotlight. Consolidating smaller, more unreliable treatment works will help ensure the long-term sustainability of the area. Fewer sites allow for better treatment technology in targeted locations, easier maintenance, monitoring, and operation, and reduced long-term costs.
Unlike United Utilities, private individuals do not have access to chemical treatment methods such as ferric sulphate dosing, which significantly reduces phosphorus levels—further reinforcing the need for consolidation and proper investment.
Save Windermere remains unequivocal in its demand for United Utilities to eliminate all sewage discharges into Windermere, following decades of underinvestment. This objective is gaining growing support from local communities and organisations, drawing parallels with successful initiatives in Lake Annecy (France) and Lake Washington (USA). United Utilities’ current investment strategy is inadequate—it fails to go far enough and will not ensure the long-term protection of Windermere or prevent the algal blooms caused by its discharges.
Taking ownership of non-mains infrastructure would demonstrate a commitment from United Utilities to go above and beyond for Windermere and would be a pivotal step towards Save Windermere’s ultimate goal of a sewage-free lake.
Why We Need a Change to the Ministerial Code
The Ministerial Code is is a set of rules and principles used by the government—particularly the Environment Agency—when interpreting the law around Section 101A. This is especially important in cases of dispute, where the EA must determine whether the law has been correctly applied.
The Code has not been updated since 1996. At present, water companies like United Utilities can reject sewer connection requests by arguing that the financial burden is too high, regardless of the long-term environmental and social benefits that mains connections provide.
We believe this is a loophole that allows water companies to prioritise shareholder profits over the health of nationally significant natural sites, such as Windermere.
To address this, we are calling for an amendment to the Ministerial Code to introduce what we are calling "The Windermere Clause." This clause would require decision-makers to give greater weight to environmental and public health benefits when considering sewer connections in protected landscapes, rather than allowing financial cost to be the overriding factor.
The Windermere Clause
"4.1.b (iiii) In areas of cultural or environmental significance, such as national parks and other protected landscapes, greater weight should be given to the long-term environmental and public health benefits of mains sewer connections, rather than the overriding financial burden to water companies. Particular consideration should be given to areas with seasonal population fluctuations, where private drainage systems may pose heightened risks to water quality, biodiversity, and public health."
This amendment would set a precedent for stronger protections in national parks and other sensitive ecosystems, ensuring that corporate financial interests are not placed above the protection of our most precious landscapes.
Take Action
We need your help to make this change happen. Please click below to send this proposed amendment to the Water Minister, Emma Hardy, urging policymakers to act now for Windermere’s future.
