The Telegraph: Water firm United Utilities pumps untreated sewage into Windermere for eight days in a row
United Utilities blames heavy rainfall but campaigner Feargal Sharkey says weather was ‘not even close’ to exceptional.
A water company has pumped untreated sewage into England’s largest lake for eight consecutive days.
Storm overflows at two water treatment plants have continuously discharged into sites that flow into Windermere, in the Lake District, since Aug 22.
United Utilities, which operates the plants, said “heavy rainfall” in the area had prompted the discharges.
Water companies are allowed to release untreated sewage into rivers and seas when it rains heavily to prevent homes being flooded.
But clean water campaigners said there was no justification for it.
Feargal Sharkey, the singer and Save Windermere campaigner, told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme that the weather was “not even close” to exceptional.
“We live on an island in the north Atlantic,” he said. “Heavy rain does not count.”
The first treatment plant, Hawkshead pumping station, started discharging into Cunsey Beck, which flows from Esthwaite Water to Windermere, at 3.27am last Thursday.
The second, Near Sawrey, started just under three hours later at 6.11am.
