Always on
This project successfully funded on 1st January 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
Final Push To End Sewage Pollution in Windermere
Windermere, Westmorland and Furness, United Kingdom
Aim
We’ve forced £200m of investment, exposed illegal dumping and pushed regulators to act. Help end sewage pollution in Windermere for good.
Windermere is more than just a lake.
It’s the symbol of freshwater in the UK. Our lake. Once clear and full of life, now turning green.
We’ve shown what’s really behind it. Not some “natural bloom”, but a broken system where sewage is the primary driver of algal growth, which can kill fish from falling oxygen levels.
I’m Matt Staniek. I grew up by this lake. After a life-changing accident, I began walking to its shores every day and I watched it begin to decline almost overnight. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and I couldn’t walk away. For 4 years, Save Windermere has been campaigning to expose the truth.
What's happening to Windermere isn’t an accident. It’s neglect. It’s profit over nature.
And together, we’re stopping it.
The Problem in Windermere and Across the Nation
Windermere should be a clean, clear, low-nutrient lake. But decades of sewage pollution have pushed it to breaking point.
Sewage is the main source of nutrients feeding potentially toxic algal blooms. These blooms can harm people and pets, strip oxygen from the water and kill fish.
The water company, who is the primary contributor to these blooms, has prioritised shareholder dividends leading to insufficient investment to protect our lake. The regulator and government have failed to hold them accountable for the damage they have done.
This isn’t just about Windermere. It’s a symbol of what’s happening to rivers, lakes and coastlines across the country. It’s a place that demonstrates the fragility of freshwater globally in the face of climate change — but it can also be the place where things change.
What We’ve Achieved
When we started, we were told there was nothing wrong. No investment needed. Everything was fine.
But our investigations have uncovered hundreds of millions of litres of illegal discharges, regulatory complacency, inadequate infrastructure and environmental harm — all hidden behind greenwashing and PR spin, painting a very different image of what's happening in Windermere.
Thanks to our supporters, we’ve changed that. Together we’ve:
- Secured £200 million in new investment over the next five years — almost three times more than the last 35 combined.
- Triggered the first full review of United Utilities’ discharge permits by the Environment Agency.
- Helped drive inspections from 0 in 2020, 2 in 2021 to 35 in 2025 so far.
- Seen real changes on the ground — more frequent site visits, more staff members hired, extra tank emptying and new backup generators to prevent failures.
- Sparked national and international media coverage, parliamentary action and, most crucially, an engineering study into how to eliminate sewage pollution completely.
No regulator did this. No politician. No company. Just ordinary people refusing to accept the unacceptable.
Our Vision
A Windermere free from sewage.
A lake where algal blooms are a thing of the past.
A place restored for wildlife, people and future generations.
This isn’t a dream. It’s possible.
In the 1970s, Lake Annecy in France faced the same crisis. The community acted. They built infrastructure to divert sewage away from the lake. Today, Annecy is the cleanest lake in Europe.
And it hasn't just happened in France. Lake Washington in the US is another example of a freshwater lake that was suffering. They also took action and eliminated all sewage discharges into the lake. The lake began to recover rapidly, and now it is protected for the American people forever.
We can do the same here. We want Windermere to once again become the symbol of freshwater in this country — a globally recognised flagship that demonstrates how we can protect and restore our waters. Climate change is placing increasing pressure on freshwater ecosystems across the world, and we must deliver significant, long-term change to protect them.
Whilst United Utilities is funding this engineering project in its entirety, we must continue to hold them to account and ensure truly independent oversight of the work. You can help us make sure this project delivers a long-term plan that protects Windermere forever.
Why We Need Your Help Now
The next 12 months will decide what happens to Windermere.
We’ve exposed the truth. We know what needs to be done. Now we need to finish what we started.
We are once again turning to the public to support our work.
Your support will help us:
- Keep national media and public pressure high.
- Push for political and legal action that protects the lake for good.
- Expand our independent monitoring and investigations.
- Deliver the engineering study that can end sewage pollution once and for all.
Every pound, every share, every voice matters. We are the ones standing between Windermere’s future and irreversible damage.
Who We Are
Save Windermere began when I found out that in 2020 more than 7,000 hours of untreated sewage flowed into the lake from one site.
I started the campaign in July 2021 after returning home to recover from a serious car accident. Each day at the lake, I saw its decline — and decided to dedicate my life to saving it.
In 2023, we became a registered Community Interest Company. We’re based here in Cumbria, governed by a board and supported by people who care deeply about this place.
We’ve been joined by voices like Feargal Sharkey, Steve Coogan, Paul Whitehouse, Lee Mack, Joe Lycett and Alison Steadman.
We’re local, but what we stand for is global.
Donate now. Protect one of Britain’s greatest lakes forever.
Windermere won’t save itself. This lake needs all of us.
Please donate, share and spread the word.
When we win here, we prove what’s possible everywhere.
Together, we can end sewage pollution in Windermere.
Let’s finish this fight.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made