Watchdog has no idea how much sewage is spilling into protected Lake District site
Recent work undertaken by Save Windermere has once again highlighted the EA's failure to hold United Utilities accountable.
Esthwaite Lodge pumping station, which discharges into a Site of Special Scientific Interest, has no event duration monitor on the outflow, so the Agency has no idea how much sewage is being spilled into the lake.
The EA says they are reviewing the permits for Windermere, but what are they going to do about the ecological damage already done? Moreover, how can we now trust them to put permits in place that are fit for purpose, when the old ones have been shown to be woefully inadequate to protect Windermere and its rivers?
This is why we are calling for a public inquiry. The regulator is failing, and we need to know why.
Excerpt from article:
“The watchdog responsible for preserving the environment has no idea how much sewage is being spilt into a protected body of water in the Lake District, i has learnt.
Although the lake is showing signs of environmental damage, the Environment Agency (EA) is not collecting any data on the amount of sewage being dumped into it from an “emergency overflow” pipe.
Esthwaite Water is a 280-acre (1.13 km2) lake connected to England’s largest lake, Windermere. It is known as being the favourite spot of children’s author and former Lake District resident Beatrix Potter, but it now frequently contains algal blooms that can be deadly for the lake’s aquatic life.
While the EA monitors other sewage overflows in the Windermere catchment for spills, the one in Esthwaite remains a blind spot. This is because the watchdog does not track every situation in which water companies dump raw sewage.
Campaigners accused the EA of “failing in its role as regulator”, and called on the watchdog to do more to investigate the sources of pollution in the region to protect the once pristine lake from sewage spills.
It is “absolutely absurd that untreated sewage is being allowed to discharge into a site of special scientific interest – let alone that it’s going unmonitored,” said Matt Staniek, a conservationist and founder of the Save Windermere campaign.”
