2024 Highlights: A Landmark Year for Saving Windermere
In the spirit of the 12 days of Christmas, here are just 12 of Save Windermere’s achievements this year:
🎄 We helped expose United Utilities for dumping over 140,000,000 litres of sewage illegally into Windermere from Glebe Road Pumping Station between 2021 and 2023.
🎄 We laid the foundation for the Information Commissioner to impose a special enforcement measure on United Utilities, making them the first water company in the UK to receive one.
🎄 We worked with Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP) to uncover over 500 illegal spilling days in and around Windermere from 2018-2023.
🎄 We launched a statutory nuisance complaint using data from one of our citizen science projects, in collaboration with Ambleside Action for a Future.
🎄 We secured a commitment from Labour to prioritise cleaning up Windermere ahead of the general election.
🎄 We mobilised over 1,000 people to join us in marching for a sewage-free Windermere.
🎄 We published findings from our satellite project, in partnership with Map Impact and funded by the UK Space Agency, which demonstrated a definitive correlation between human activity (pressure on inadequate infrastructure) and algal blooms in the lake — the first time such a link had been established using satellite imagery in Windermere.
🎄 We released the results of our invertebrate sampling programme with WildFish, revealing stark ANNUAL declines: an average 64% reduction in invertebrate life on the River Rothay below Ambleside WwTW’s storm overflow pipe; an average 76% reduction on Cunsey Beck below Near Sawrey WwTW; and an average 75% reduction on Wilfin Beck below Far Sawrey WwTW.
Algal bloom on Windermere, November 2024
🎄 We reviewed site permits in and around Windermere, such as Near Sawrey WwTW exposing concerning details such as the Environment Agency permitting storm spills after as little as 0.25mm of rainfall into Cunsey Beck, no limits on phosphorus, inappropriate limits on ammoniacal nitrogen, and excessively high limits for Biochemical Oxygen Demand and Suspended Solids.
🎄 We welcomed the one and only rockstar that is Feargal Sharkey to our Strike Against Sewage, helping amplify Windermere’s plight. Surfers Against Sewage also paid us a visit with their campaign bus!
🎄 We marked one year of the Strike Against Sewage by staging a 24-hour sit-in outside United Utilities’ Information Centre, with a guest appearance from Steve Coogan, who eviscerated United Utilities on Good Morning Britain.
🎄 We continued to grow incredible support from local and national communities, businesses such as Patagonia, and the vast majority of local businesses, as well as influential figures. Ambassadors like Steve Coogan, Lee Mack, and Paul Whitehouse have remained steadfast in championing our mission to end sewage pollution in Windermere.
After 3 years of campaigning, 2024 was the year we solidified the campaign as one of the most influential in the entire country, won awards, and secured a nearly £200 million investment for Windermere.
We couldn’t have achieved any of this without each and every one of you. Thank you for an incredible year and for making 2024 our most impactful to date. We already know what’s on the horizon for 2025, and you haven’t seen anything yet.
Let’s make 2025 the year we secure the commitment to save Windermere from sewage, now and forever, so we can enjoy waters as clean as those in places like Annecy.
Thank you,
The Save Windermere Team
