What is the Save Windermere campaign?

The Save Windermere campaign is an initiative aimed at stopping illegal sewage dumping into Lake Windermere by United Utilities and promoting transparency in sewage discharge data.

Who is involved in the Save Windermere campaign?

The campaign involves local zoologist Matt Staniek, local businesses, and environmental groups, and has gained national attention.

What actions have been taken by the Save Windermere campaign?

The campaign has organised protests, gained media attention, and pressured United Utilities to commit to ending sewage pollution and investing in cleanup projects.

What impact has the Save Windermere campaign had?

The campaign has led to national investigations into water companies' sewage dumping practices and inspired other environmental campaigns.

Sewage and Secrets: How Campaign To End Sewage Dumping Brought Investigations Into 6 Major UK Water Companies

UK Sewage — The Save Windermere campaign reached several milestones, including exposing United Utilities' withholding of sewage discharge data Bob Brewer/Unsplash

For over 5 years, the Save Windermere campaign has been gaining traction in the fight against illegal sewage dumping by United Utilities into Lake Windermere, England's longest lake. The campaign began in response to over 7,000 hours of untreated sewage flowing into Windermere in 2020.

This allowed local zoologist Matt Staniek to fuel a campaign that would be picked up by local, then national news outlets to highlight a crisis affecting the UK's waterways.

Since gaining popularity with locals and tourists alike and with the rollout of short films, local business support and weekly protests outside United Utilities headquarters, the Save Windermere campaign reached several milestones, including exposing United Utilities' withholding of sewage discharge data.

A special enforcement measure to share this data by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), highlighted the previous failure of the Environment Agency to force transparency from the water company on their sewage discharge data.

Fallout from the Worst Year on Record

In 2024, the Save Windermere Campaign exposed the worst year on record for pollution flowing into the lake, with 140 days of illegal sewage spills. This led to further concerns over public health and impacts towards tourism as the Lake District relies heavily on so-called 'water tourism' involving boat trips, water sports and swimming.

2024 was also the year that reporting on the pollution in Lake Windermere led to further scrutiny of 6 other water companies, including Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, Thames Water, Wessex Water, Yorkshire Water and Southwest Water. The minister for water at the time, Robbie Moore, implicated that there would be 'no holding back' when investigating the activities of these companies and possible pollution similar to Lake Windermere.

This led to the systematic investigation of these water companies for their own activities involving sewage dumping. The Guardian reported that in 2024 more than 2000 overflows, owned by these companies, were discharging raw untreated sewage into UK waterways. While Ofwat was said to commit to limiting these activities and imposing up to £300m in penalties towards water companies, little action was taken.

Reports have indicated that these companies had instead an increase in United Utilities profits after the company was permitted by Ofwat to raise an additional £33.2m to reward the company's performance during 2023.

National Significance

While these numbers present a bleak outlook for water companies taking accountability for sewage dumping, the Save Windermere campaign not only helped launch a national investigation into more than just United Utilities actions but has continued to fight for data transparency.

It has further inspired other environmental campaigns such as Surfers Against Sewage to fight for coastlines and waterways to be free from sewage and raise awareness for the dangers it poses to public health across the UK.

Recent success in the campaign saw United Utilities Chief Executive Louise Beardmore and Save Windermere founder Matt Staniek sitting down at the Lake District book festival to discuss a future where sewage dumping in Windermere could be ended for good.

According to Save Windermere, United Utilities is committed to ending sewage pollution in the next 7 years, not just in Windermere but across other lakes that have reported similar pollution activity in recent years. Additionally, the company has committed to investing £200m into engineering studies and cleanup projects to prevent the further deterioration of wildlife in and around Lake Windermere.

Matt Staniek says it is a step forward, but 'now is the time to increase the pressure and make sure this commitment turns into action.'

The future intentions of United Utilities and Save Windermere may be aligned; however, as previous years have proven, water companies continue to profit from illegal forms of pollution, which forces campaigns like Save Windermere to continue to fight for transparency in reporting sewage data.