Last year, Save Windermere, in partnership with Map Impact , embarked on a groundbreaking data collection programme, backed by the UK Space Agency, to study England's largest freshwater lake, Windermere.

Well, now we are incredibly excited to announce that we have the results! And they are incredibly straight forward so simple in fact we summarise it in just 2 minutes in our latest film

➡️ There is a direct correlation between visitor loading in the area and algal growth in Windermere.

➡️ Algal growth has been shown to worsen when lake temperature increases. 

➡️ There is no correlation between agriculture and algal spikes in Windermere.

➡️ In the last 3 years, there have been single days where over 300,000 people were in the catchment.

➡️ Despite owning the vast majority of sewage infrastructure in and around Windermere, United Utilities refused to provide any data for this publicly funded study to help protect our lake.

Full blog can be found here: https://www.savewindermere.com/news/save-windermere-is-back-from-space

This work builds on Save Windermere’s growing, rigorous scientific portfolio working closely with organisations like Windrush Against Sewage Pollution and WildFish but this catchment-wide study with Map Impact , looking at the overall health of Windermere, has now clearly demonstrated that when more people are here, we see more algae in the lake and the climate exacerbates this issue even further. 

This underscores the necessity for a long-term infrastructure investment plan, which surpasses the current inadequate proposals, addressing both untreated and treated sewage.

Save Windermere now has even more evidence that justifies our overarching campaign message; stop putting sewage in Windermere. This solution has been implemented in lakes all over the world including the famous Lake Annecy in France. Their lake is now free from sewage and is classified as the cleanest in Europe. Similar action must be taken to protect this nation’s lake forever.