RARE PHOTOS: Matt staniek | Rare Historical Photos

Save Windermere: How a Grassroots Campaign Turned Britain's Sewage Crisis Into a National Issue

The Save Windermere campaign has highlighted illegal sewage dumping in Lake Windermere, prompting national scrutiny of water companies and inspiring environmental activism across the UK.

International Business Times UK · Aug 15

Realtime pollution alerts needed on Windermere, campaigners say after boy nearly dies

Exclusive: Claire Earley’s son Rex spent six weeks in hospital after contracting E coli from contaminated lake

The Guardian - UK · Mar 16

‘The nation is watching’: sewage dumps in Windermere must end, says activist

Ministers urged to do more after United Utilities discharged raw sewage into Unesco site for 6,327 hours last year

The Guardian - UK · Mar 27, 2025

Up to 70 days of suspected illegal dumps of sewage in Windermere in 2022, analysis finds

Researcher says data suggests permit conditions breached on up to 70 days, but United Utilities disputes findings

The Guardian - UK · Nov 16, 2023

Sewage in Windermere is killing 'crown jewel of the Lake District', says campaigner

Steve Coogan, Joe Lycett, Lee Mack and Paul Whitehouse have allied with Save Windermere to protect the World Heritage Site. Founder and Cumbrian zoologist Matt Staniek says the lake is under threat

Daily Mirror · May 24, 2023

Water firms in England urged to upgrade sewage works for new homes

Campaigners in Oxfordshire, Cotwolds and Cumbria say houses should not be occupied until systems can cope

The Guardian - UK · Jan 31, 2023

‘It stinks’: Windermere plagued by blue-green algae as ‘toxic as cobra venom’

Campaigners accused of ‘scaremongering’ despite tests of algal bloom in lake exceeding WHO guidelines

The Guardian - UK · Aug 24, 2022