Yesterday, you’ll no doubt see the shocking revelations about the mass sewage dumping that has taken place across the country in 2024. We featured in the Guardian with the full story here: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/27/sewage-dumps-windermere-must-end-says-activist-matt-staniek

Last year, water companies released raw sewage into England's rivers, lakes and seas for a record 3.61 million hours, a slight increase on 2023.

You will likely hear Water UK—the voice of all the water companies—blaming the weather, the regulator, improved monitoring, and probably even you. Don’t let them distract you. You’ve given them the money, you’ve paid for a service. Instead, they’ve siphoned off £85 billion to shareholders, while leaving the companies burdened with £60 billion in debt. They’ve prioritised shareholder profits over you—the customer—and over the ecological health of places like Windermere in the Lake District National Park.

Save Windermere preemptively obtained and published the 2024 spill data for Windermere a few weeks ago. Using United Utilities’ own detailed data, obtained via EIR—which goes far beyond the summary data reported to the Environment Agency—Professor Peter Hammond of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution was able to conduct an analysis that offers a much more granular and revealing picture.

To remind you, in 2024 alone, six sewage overflow sites around Windermere discharged untreated sewage for a staggering 6,327 hours—the equivalent of 263 days. Because Windermere sits at the lowest point in the catchment, all of that pollution ends up in the lake, accumulating year after year.

This isn’t just a one-off—it’s a clear pattern. Since 2020, those same six sites have discharged untreated sewage for a jaw-dropping 33,410 hours—the equivalent of 1,392 full days. 

This is the failure of privatisation laid bare.

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