Save Windermere has played a pivotal role in exposing a major environmental scandal. Data obtained by Save Windermere under Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), and subsequently requested and analysed by the BBC, has revealed that United Utilities (UU) illegally discharged over 140 million litres of untreated sewage into Windermere from Glebe Road Pumping Station between 2021-2023.
Matt Staniek, a campaigner against sewage pollution and founder of Save Windermere, said Windermere was “the jewel in the crown of the Lake District National Park, and it’s being used as an open sewer”
The BBC has discovered that United Utilities have been pumping waste into the lake when it was not permitted and failed to report most of it.
It is authorised by the Environment Agency to release raw sewage into the lake in certain circumstances during wet weather, as long as it is pumping at least 245 litres of sewage a second to the treatment works.
That condition, written in the site’s environmental permit, is supposed to protect Windermere and ensure that, even in wet weather, most sewage is sent for treatment. Failing to comply with the permit is a criminal offence.
In March 2023 the Environment Agency published data that showed that United Utilities discharged untreated sewage almost 70,000 times the year before for a total of 425,491. The same company reported operating profits of £610 million in 2022 and paid out dividends of £296 million
BBC News -17/10/2024
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