The Times: Raw sewage has been flowing into Windermere for more than a week
Raw sewage has been spilling in waters feeding Windermere for more than a week in an incident blamed by campaigners on water industry greed.
A map run by United Utilities, which provides wastewater services across the northwest of England, shows that two storm overflows have been releasing untreated sewage since the early morning of August 22.
One is an outfall at Near Sawrey sewage works into Cunsey Beck, which ultimately flows into England’s largest lake. The other is at Hawkshead Pumping Station, from which water goes to Windermere.
Storm overflows act as emergency relief valves for the network, releasing sewage into rivers and seas at times of heavy rainfall to prevent it from backing up into homes and other buildings. However, there is a growing body of evidence that such spills are not happening only in exceptional circumstances.
United Utilities pointed to Met Office data showing that there was rainfall of more than 40mm between August 21 and 27, and noted that there are numerous flood warnings in place for the catchment.
However, campaigners blamed the incident on inadequate investment. Feargal Sharkey, the Undertones singer and river campaigner, told The Times: “Sewage dumping has nothing whatsoever to do with heavy rain. It is caused by greed, profiteering, financial engineering and regulatory incompetence. Fix those and you fix the sewage scandal.”
He urged people angry about the spill in a Unesco world heritage site to take to the streets for a March for Clean Water in London this October.
Analysis of Environment Agency data by Matt Staniek of the Save Windermere campaign, which has been backed by celebrities including Steve Coogan, found that sewage spilled into the lake for more than 9,000 hours last year.
“United Utilities and other water companies prioritise dividends over environmental protection, despite having the funds to prevent sewage dumping into national treasures like Windermere,” Staniek said. “Their proposed investment is inadequate, fails to address core issues such as volume and costs should not be passed to customers, especially given evidence of illegality.”
United Utilities disputed the claim that there had been no exceptional rainfall. A spokesman said: “Storm overflows are designed to operate during heavy rainfall as we have seen in the Lake District in recent days with more than double the amount of average rainfall. So far this year, August has seen more rainfall than in any other month and it is the fourth wettest of the 44 months since January 2021.”
The company, which caused more raw sewage discharges last year than any other, was unable to say whether it was the first time the outfalls had spilled for more than a week into Windermere.
The company was found to have illegally dumped millions of litres of untreated sewage into the lake after a telecoms fault caused pumps to stop at a treatment works in February. Ministers called the incident “unsatisfactory” and warned that they would “not hold back” in tackling polluters. They said that United Utilities would face fines or penalties if it was found guilty of wrongdoing.
Nutrient pollution — nitrogen and phosphorus — in Windermere are lower than their peaks in the 1980s and 1990s. However, oxygen concentrations in its two basins have fallen, which is a risk for fish, and both basins have warmed by about 1C since the 1950s. In recent summers, it has suffered several toxic algae blooms, which are now being tracked by satellites.
