BBC Panorama investigates United Utilities and the Environment Agency
Panorama “The Water Pollution Cover-Up” airs on BBC1, Monday 4th December at 8pm.
Windermere, 27 November, 2023 — The Save Windermere campaign is featured in an upcoming Panorama investigative documentary, titled “The Water Pollution Cover-Up”, airing on BBC1, Monday 4th December at 8pm.
The documentary investigates United Utilities’ actions across the North West and the Save Windermere campaign has provided evidence regarding a potential pollution cover-up in the Windermere catchment. This pollution event saw the death of over 1000 fish on Cunsey Beck in the summer of 2022 and will feature in the documentary.
The BBC investigation reveals how water companies can cover-up pollution incidents and how the Environment Agency fails to stop them. This is relevant to all United Utilities’ customers in the North West as these actions directly impact how much United Utilities can charge for their service.
It is not the first time that United Utilities’ operations have been questioned in this way. Earlier this year, in a Supreme Court ruling against United Utilities Lord Reed stated:
“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.”
This comes soon after the Save Windermere campaign discovered evidence of illegality at 4 of United Utilities’ sites in the Windermere catchment. The illegal activity documented at Ambleside, Grasmere, Near Sawrey and Hawkshead Pumping Station also puts into question how much of United Utilities' next investment should fall on the bill payer as investment required to achieve compliance cannot fall within the statutory investment cycle. Illegality at the sites is reflective of a lack of capacity, but the bill payer has already paid for water companies to build, operate and maintain sewage systems capable of ‘effectually dealing’ with the content of those sewers. As such, the bill payer cannot pay twice for a service that has not been provided.
Save Windermere is calling for complete removal of all sewage discharges into the lake. This requires United Utilities to commit to a long-term infrastructure investment scheme, which would ensure the protection of Windermere for future generations, thus protecting the local economy which relies on the lake. This follows case studies from around the world including Lake Annecy in France and Lake Washington in America, where complete removal was determined to be the most sustainable and environmentally friendly model, with benefits that outweigh the short term engineering impact.
Save Windermere Founder, Matt Staniek, said:
“United Utilities investment in Windermere has been inadequate to ensure the long-term protection of the lake. The regulator is failing to hold United Utilities adequately accountable for breaking the law. Our lake is being exploited for profit and greed. We hope this documentary will demonstrate to people that the Environment Agency cannot be trusted, nor can United Utilities. Those that are working with these organisations are complicit unless they come forward to publicly call out the failures of these organisations.”
Panorama “The Water Pollution Cover-Up” is available to stream on BBC iPlayer from Monday 4th December.
