GREATER PROTECTION FOR WINDERMERE
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GREATER PROTECTION FOR WINDERMERE · ADD YOUR NAME ·
OUR 10-POINT PLAN FOR A SEWAGE-FREE WINDERMERE
Short Term Goals ( 5 Years)
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Launch an inquiry into the failings of the Environment Agency and OFWAT and subsequently provide adequate resources to enable effective regulation and enforcement of existing legislation.
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Provide a clear breakdown of infrastructural investment to ensure public funds are spent efficiently and appropriately.
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Ensure full transparency of data from both the water company and the Environment Agency, including asset capacity.
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Reform current measurement practices by implementing precise monitoring of effluent at sewage outfalls, both treated and untreated, to measure nutrient levels and sewage volume, with data accessible in real-time via a public portal.
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Update all United Utilities permits so they are fit for the 21st Century and align with the 1994 Urban Wastewater Directive, allowing Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) to discharge only in exceptional circumstances.
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Set phosphate, nitrate and ammonia discharge limits to a protective level and enforce capped limits rather than assessing compliance based on annual averages.
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Enforce compliance and introduce suitable financial deterrents for all pollution incidents and non-compliance to prevent profiteering from pollution. Require all investment up to compliance to be funded by the water company (i.e. costs not passed on to consumer).
Long Term Goals (10 Years)
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Focus on achieving ‘High’ ecological status for Windermere under the Water Framework Directive.
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Commit to the complete removal of all United Utilities sewage inputs into Windermere and its catchment.
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United Utilities to take ownership of the most significant septic tanks and package treatment plants under Section 101a of the Water Industry Act 1991 and the First Time Sewerage scheme.
TAKE ACTION BEFORE THE GENERAL ELECTION
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OUR PLAN TO SAVE WINDERMERE
Add your name to our 10-point plan for a sewage-free Windermere.
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DEMAND GREATER PROTECTION
Sign our open letter demanding greater protection for Windermere.
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SIGN THE PETITION
Sign our petition calling for a public inqury into the Environment Agency.
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DONATE TO OUR CROWDFUNDER
Make a donation to help us continue the fight to protect our precious lake.
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Lake Windermere is dying
Excessively high nutrient levels are destroying England’s largest lake. We are on a mission to return the lake to its natural state.
We demand an end to all treated and untreated sewage discharges into the Windermere catchment.
The choice is simple. If you disagree with sewage being discharged into Windermere, please read on.
Latest Campaign Updates
What's happening in Windermere?
High phosphorous levels
The single largest input of phosphorous into Windermere is sewage discharges from United Utilities Wastewater Treatment Works.
Toxic algal blooms
High levels of phosphorus in the lake are leading to a rapid increase in potentially toxic algal blooms.
Suffocating our wildlife
Algal blooms suffocate our lake and are a danger to us, our pets and our wildlife.
What Can Be Done?
Windermere
Annecy
Image By SwimQuest Holidays
We are asking United Utilities to end ALL treated and untreated sewage discharges into the Windermere catchment. This is possible.
United Utilities has previously modelled complete removal of one of their assets discharging into Windermere at an estimated cost of £25 million, which in the context of their turnover and profits is a minimal investment.
Since the 1960s, Lake Annecy in France has been transformed. This has been achieved by channeling all sewage to treatment plants outside of the lake's catchment. It is now the cleanest lake in Europe.
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The Numbers
1,157
full days of sewage discharged from storm overflows into the Windermere catchment since 2020
9 months
for a single drop of water to travel through Windermere - this is why Windermere is unique
99%
reduction in the number of sea trout caught by line on the River Leven since 1980
£750m
tourist industry at risk of collapse if Windermere dies
Sewage discharges in the Windermere catchment
Click on the map icons to find out what United Utilities is discharging into the catchment.
See What Sewage Is Doing To Our Lake
No United Utilities Inputs
Image taken above Chapel Stile, Great Langdale Beck, where there are no wastewater treatment work discharges
Below United Utilities Inputs
Image taken roughly 100m downstream of Ambleside wastewater treatment work on the River Rothay
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The striking feature of your case is essentially a breach of a rule of law, that your business model is based on breaching statutory duties.
That is an inevitable part of the way you carry out your business, you tell us. Not only is the court meant to tolerate this, but those who suffer loss as a result of unauthorised behaviour contrary, we are hypothesising, to a statutory duty are meant to grin and bear it.
Lord Reed, Supreme Court Justice, 2023
Court comment aimed at United Utilities’ legal counsel
Our Mission
To return Windermere to its ecologically natural state, through the complete removal of ALL treated & untreated sewage discharges into the Windermere catchment.
We are collaborating with the local community, businesses, environmental organisations and politicians to Save Windermere from ecological destruction, ensuring future generations are able to swim free from fear and allowing wildlife to thrive in a healthy ecosystem.
If you would like to provide support, join our team, make a large donation or if you have a press enquiry, please get in touch directly.