United Utilities did not report at least 102 million litres of illegal sewage pollution to regulators, a BBC analysis found
Water company United Utilities has been accused of failing to report more than 100 million litres of raw sewage that it illegally dumped into Windemere over a three-year period.
READ MORE: Mum and dad killed alongside two children in horror head-on M6 crash pictured as tributes pour in “The importance of Windermere on a national and international scale is just enormous and this is just blatant exploitation,” he said. “It is illegal spilling, it should not be happening and this is why today we are calling on Keir Starmer to end pollution in Windermere once and for all.”
Commons Leader Lucy Powell told MPs on Thursday that sewage in Windermere is an “appalling scandal”, calling the BBC revelations “shocking”. She called for a Commons debate about the “ongoing appalling behaviour of water companies”, adding: “It’s home to countless species of wildlife and surrounding habitats, and it’s a haven for swimmers and water sports enthusiasts.
The BBC previously revealed that United Utilities had downplayed dozens of polluting incidents, after which United Utilities retrospectively reported some discharges into the lake from October 2023 onwards. But this latest analysis covering data back to January 2021 suggests illegal discharges had been taking place far longer than these retrospective reports.
It added that teams have completed nine United Utilities asset inspections in the Windermere Catchment this year, with a further three inspections before the end of 2024. Meanwhile, water industry regulator OfWat, which judges firms on the number of pollution incidents they cause each year and financially rewards or penalises them on their performance, said the allegations are “very serious”.
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