Windermere water quality improvement projects get the green light
Overview
Windermere suffers from algal blooms brought on by the changing climate and warmer temperatures and has a long history of nutrient inputs into the lake which can affect water quality. These nutrients can come from many different sources including farming, private septic tanks, rainwater runoff from roads, industry, and drainage, as well as sewage.
Challenge
The public sewer system around Windermere uses the same pipes to carry away rainwater as well as the used water we all flush away. During heavy rainfall these “combined” systems fill up and are designed to overflow into local watercourses or the lake itself to prevent flooding in homes and businesses. Another challenge is being in the Lake District National Park. It’s important we develop solutions that minimise any impacts to wildlife and the rich cultural heritage and spectacular landscapes of the area.
Solution
We’re doing more sooner and have made an early start on a multi-million pound package of investment at four sites around the lake: Hawkshead, Near Sawrey, Elterwater and Ambleside. We’re building storage tanks which will be large enough to hold around 11 million litres of storm water and we’re developing a surface water separation scheme which will see rainwater diverted away from the sewer network to create a Sustainable Drainage Solution (SuDS) feature. As there are many contributors to water quality, partnership working will be key to improving Windermere’s water quality.
Outcome
These solutions will remove rainwater from the system, allowing us to treat wastewater to the highest of standards, before returning it to the environment.
These improvement form part of our commitment to creating better rivers, investing £914 million to reduce spills from 158 storm overflows in Cumbria, part of our proposed £13.7 billon investment to make a stronger, greener, healthier North West.