For the last few years, public attention has focused on the millions of hours of untreated sewage discharged into Windermere and waterbodies across the country. Here in Windermere, we saw 33,410 hours of untreated sewage discharged between 2020 and 2024, all of it ending up in our lake.
But our piece in yesterday’s Observer highlights something just as shocking, and far less publicised: the sheer volume of treated sewage being discharged in and around Windermere.
Working with our friends at Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, the new analysis shows that just six United Utilities sites discharged over 50 billion litres of treated sewage between 2017 and 2024.
We featured these volume statistics prominently in our new film, Origin – A Journey to Find the Source of Windermere, to help people grasp the true scale of the issue and why Windermere must be treated differently from rivers and coastlines. The film is only twelve minutes long and has now surpassed 76,000 views, so we urge everyone to watch it.
Our latest blog today goes further, examining the environmental impact of treated sewage, and why complete removal is the only credible path to protect England’s largest lake.