ITV: Save Windermere campaigner begins weekly protest
Save Windermere campaigner Matt Staniek has begun a weekly protest outside United Utilities' Windermere Information Centre.
Matt Staniek told ITV Border, "This is my version of a peaceful protest, very much inspired by Greta Thunberg and what she did for the climate strike for a future."
Water UK says water companies are nearly doubling their investment in sewage infrastructure with £96billion set to be invested in over 100,000km of sewer network between 2025 and 2030, but the local campaigner says that's not enough.
United Utilities says customers are consulted at the shop of Windermere's high street, shaping their plans.
It says in the last three years it's invested more than £75million in wastewater infrastructure - with a further £41m up to 2030, halving phosphorous levels in Windermere.
Mr Staniek says: "We're saying Windermere is the most significant lake in this country. It symbolises freshwater in this country and why we are we putting sewage into it? You know, last year alone, United Utilities sent £300 million to their shareholders in dividends.
"And they weren't investing in the problem. And the problem is, is that putting sewage into the lake. So we're saying, well, instead of spending money on an information centre and what we would see as a means to show the public that they're looking everywhere else but themselves, we're saying that money should be invested in the infrastructure."
