MP TIM FARRON SUPPORTS CAMPAIGN TO CLEAN UP LAKE WINDERMERE

Today, Westmorland MP Tim Farron has called for constituents to support the petition to clean up Lake Windermere.

Last week local activist Matt Staniek launched a petition to save Lake Windermere from sewage discharges. It followed the release of images earlier this week which showed large blooms of blue-green algae on the lake which have appeared as a result of the hot, dry weather and worrying levels of sewage discharges into the lake and its tributaries by United Utilities and others.

Speaking today, Tim said: "It is really heart-breaking to see the quality of this country's most famous lake put at risk due to inaction from water companies and the government in regulating sewage discharges."

It is thought that there are over 1900 septic tanks surrounding the lake which are currently largely unregulated. There are also multiple water treatment sites, mainly owned and managed by United Utilities, that surround the lake. In March, the government issued a consultation paper on the 'Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan'. However, no results from that consultation, or the 'Discharge Reduction Plan', have been released by the government, so Tim has submitted a question to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Minister Tamara Finkelstein to ask where these plans are.

Tim said: "We need year-round infrastructure investment for water treatment centres so that they are not so easily overwhelmed during wet weather, leading to sewage ending up in the lake.

"Improved storage tanks at each site would go a long way to solving the problem of sewage overflow into the lake during storms.

"This is a national scandal. The fact of the matter is that Lake Windermere is not only a natural beauty and a place of vital species diversity, but a reservoir for drinking water for much of the North West of England.

"United Utilities are not investing enough of their colossal profits into improving the infrastructure around the lake, we cannot allow this to continue."

Tim has urged people to sign the petition set up by Matt Staniek and to share it far and wide.