United Utilities failed to report the dumping of millions of litres of effluent into the Lake’s District’s prime spot Windermere to the Environment Agency until 13 hours after the incident started
Around 10 million litres of raw sewage was illegally pumped into Lake Windermere after a fault.
United Utilities failed to stop the pollution of the beauty spot for 10 hours on the night of February 28. It did not report the incident to the Environment Agency until 13 hours after it started, the BBC revealed.
A near identical incident struck the Lake District waterway in 2022. It has also suffered algal blooms in recent years, partly caused by sewage.
United Utilities said the 10 million litres estimate was unreliable, adding the case “was caused by an unexpected fault in the telecommunications network”.
The pumping station is allowed to discharge untreated sewage into Windermere if overwhelmed by rainfall or snowmelt. That did not happen in this case.
United Utilities papers said the fault caused the main pumps to stop. The firm said it “took urgent steps to resolve the situation” when notified.
The Environment Agency found there were 68,481 cases of sewage released into England’s seas last year.
Lib Dem Tim Farron wants water firm chiefs prosecuted over sewage, adding: “This is a scandal. We can’t let them get away with this any longer.”
Labour’s Steve Reed said No10 shut its eyes “while United Utilities pumped a tidal wave of raw sewage into Britain’s most beautiful lake”.
Warning the EA had the power to launch a criminal prosecution, No10 said: “Sewage discharge into waters like this is completely unacceptable.”