Water quality improvement in Windermere

The condition of Windermere has been in the news a lot lately and the LDNPA is one of many agencies working to improve water quality in the lake. UU mains sewage discharges have received a lot of publicity but other sources of pollution include 1,900 private septic tanks and significant phosphate run-off from the huge catchment area. Climate change has also led to an increase in the temperature of the lake which makes the problems caused by phosphate levels even worse.

The EA and its partners (of which LDNPA is one), is creating a long-term plan to tackle the multiple sources of phosphorus pollution in Windermere. The plan will include a variety of projects, using the best science, working with partners and ensuring long term funding.

Work streams include:

· United Utilities working on improvements in wastewater treatment.

· South Cumbria Rivers Trust working to ensure all non-mains drainage such as private septic tanks or package treatment plants are operating effectively.

· Lake District Foundation developing a sustainable economic model that drives investment and funding into the catchment area.

· LDNPA working on land management to reduce phosphate run off from the catchment area. What’s really interesting though, is the LDNPA is creating a ‘market leading’ mechanism in which third parties pay for improvements by buying ‘offset credits’. I’ll talk more about this in the next newsletter. The lessons from this project are also being applied to other catchments that are affected by nutrient neutrality, including parts of the River Derwent and Bassenthwaite catchment.