The Environment Agency samples the designated bathing waters in Windermere according to the Bathing Water Regulations. Applications for new bathing water designations in Lake Windermere can be made to Defra if the criteria published on GOV.UK are met.

The Environment Agency currently provides pollution forecasting at 171 coastal sites and is exploring the feasibility of providing a forecast for inland sites.

On 28 October 2025, the Department laid before Parliament a Statutory Instrument which incorporates reforms to modernise the Bathing Water Regulations. Core reform 3, which is due to come into force 21 November, introduces discretion to determine a different bathing season for a site where appropriate, allowing more flexible, locally tailored bathing seasons that reflect when people use the site.

We are working with the Environment Agency (EA) on a pre-implementation research project which will consult with stakeholders to ensure we have considered all the relevant factors. The outcome of this project will be set out in public guidance that will be published in due course.

Currently, the EA samples regularly throughout the season and this will continue with any bathing site extensions under core reform 3. This data is published regularly on the EA’s Swimfo bathing waters website ensuring the public can make an informed decision before entering the water.

In England, the Environment Agency (EA) undertakes monitoring and reporting on water ecology and publish these results via the ‘Water Hub’.

United Utilities (UU) monitor their discharges under Operator Self-Monitoring (OSM). The EA audits this monitoring and may take appropriate compliance and enforcement action in relation to the results of this monitoring.

UU also monitor spills from assets including Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) via Event Duration Monitoring. The EA checks this data and the equipment used to collate it. All eight operational Wastewater Treatment works and Pumping Stations in the Windermere catchment have been inspected in the last 13 months, in some cases on multiple occasions. The EA also responds to reports of environmental incidents and takes appropriate action.

Following the Spending Review, the Government has confirmed water company fines will be allocated to local environmental projects and programmes to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas.

Over £100 million in fines has been levied against water companies since October 2023, which will be reinvested into local environment projects and programmes to address pollution and improve water quality.

More information on this announcement can be found on GOV.UK. A further announcement on the details on the projects and programmes that this funding will go towards will be set out in due course.

Water company fines that accumulated between April 2022 and October 2023 will be invested through the Water Restoration Fund. Up to £11 million of funding was made available on a competitive basis to support a range of water restoration projects to improve the water environment. Successful applicants have been notified, and an official announcement will follow in due course.

Tackling marine litter and plastic pollution is a priority for the UK Government, which is why we are working domestically and internationally to implement measures that will prevent macro-sized plastic litter which are sources of microplastics from reaching rivers, seas and the ocean in the first place.

As part of a historic £104 billion of investment by water companies in England and Wales in Price Review 2024 (PR24), which runs from 2025–2030, United Utilities is required to improve sewage discharges within the Lake Windermere catchment. This includes reducing how often storm overflows discharge from Ambleside Waste water Treatment Works (WwTW), Elterwater Pumping Station (PS), Hawkshead PS and Near Sawrey WwTW. United Utilities will also be improving over 100 storm overflows across the river catchments of the Tame, Mersey, Roch, Croal, Irwell, Glaze and Douglas within Greater Manchester as progress towards meeting environmental targets, including those of the Environment Act 2021.

These improvements will help to reduce discharges of raw sewage which can contain organic pollutants, microplastics, pharmaceuticals, nutrients, and heavy metals, as well as visible litter that is flushed down toilets.

We are also taking forward investigations through the water industry’s Chemical Investigations Programme, to understand how we can reduce the levels of microplastics entering the water environment through treated wastewater. Microplastics have been recognised as a significant standalone issue and the water industry are funding six further investigations between 2025 and 2030.

The Environment Agency received three self-reported pollution incidents from United Utilities relating to operations at Glebe Road Pumping Station, Windermere. These were reported on 26 January, 29 February and 21 May 2024.

The Environment Agency has launched an investigation into the sewage discharges at this Pumping Station and is examining further evidence received from the company. If United Utilities is found to be in breach of an environmental permit, the Environment Agency will take the appropriate enforcement action up to and including a criminal prosecution.

The Environment Agency (EA) is carrying out an investigation into United Utilities’ (UU) discharges into Lake Windermere.

The investigation concerns three separate incidents that were self-reported by UU. One of these incidents was a retrospective report of pollution.

Where a breach of a UU permit has occurred, the EA will take the appropriate enforcement action in accordance with its enforcement and sanctions policy.

A thorough investigation by the Environment Agency (EA) into the pollution incident at Lake Windermere earlier this year remains ongoing, which involves examining further evidence from United Utilities (UU). If the EA determines a permit breach has taken place, it will not hesitate to take enforcement action up to and including a criminal prosecution.

Windermere is affected by pollution from a range of different sources, including sewage discharges from water company assets, private septic tanks/sewage works and road and agricultural run-off, as well as physical modifications. Climate change has also altered temperature, precipitation and weather patterns which can affect the lake's water quality, by altering nutrient cycles, water chemistry and aquatic habitats, and affect the amount of water resulting in droughts and floods.

The last Water Framework Directive full water body classification results in 2019 assessed that Lake Windermere achieved moderate ecologic status and is impacted by excessive nutrients, leading to algal growth and cyanobacterial blooms.

Recent data shows a 30% reduction in phosphorus – which can lead to algal blooms – entering the lake since 2020 and this reduction is predominantly due to EA-driven improvements to UU Wastewater Treatment Works.

Water quality modelling continues to quantify the different sources of pollution in Windermere and the impact that it is having in different parts of the lake. The EA is also working with the Love Windermere partnership to improve the overall health of the lake through behavioural and societal change.

There was informative and useful advice in the Scottish Environment Protection Agency report. The specific improvements that the Environment Agency in Cumbria and Lancashire have looked to put in place when dealing with significant pollution incidents are:

1. To consider and gather all potential witness information even in the event of no immediate polluter being identified.
2. To ensure full consideration is applied to Environment Agency ecologist deployment and deliver best available practice in sampling.
3. Where dead fish are present during an incident, logging more detail on specific locations and taking samples.
4. During more significant investigations, ensure geographic representation of river locations where actions/observations/samples are made or taken.

The above is in addition to an increased focus on the Environment Agency’s response to incidents affecting water quality. In March 2023, the Environment Agency launched a Regulatory Plan which sets out key actions for Windermere, placing regulation at the heart of its work to improve the water environment. These actions include monitoring trends and pollution hotspots, targeting efforts on reducing pollution sources and reviewing findings on a regular basis.

The Environment Agency is also leading the Love Windermere partnership, a long-term initiative which brings together organisations committed to developing a science-based plan for the environmental protection of this iconic lake.

We are working with the regulators to ensure they have the tools and resources they need to hold water companies to account. We have provided an extra £2.2 million per year to the EA specifically for water company enforcement activity. We have legislated to introduce unlimited penalties on water companies who breach their environmental permits and expand the range of offences to which penalties can be applied, giving the Environment Agency the tools they need to hold water companies to account.

In June 2023, the Environment Agency (EA) outlined that it would be transforming the way it regulates the sector, embedding a new approach that targets resource and interventions to uncover non-compliance and drive better performance from the water industry.

Due to the seriousness of the incident at Cunsey Beck, Windermere and the fact that a definitive source had not been identified, the EA asked the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to review their response to the incident.

The EA recognise things should have been done better, that is why improvements have been made to water quality monitoring in the area, including installing sensors that monitor river quality in real time. Learning has been shared within the EA to inform future responses.

Actions that the EA are taking as the water industry regulator are set out in the annual water company performance report, published 12 July 2023.

Defra engages regularly with water company representatives at both an official and ministerial level, including United Utilities (UU), to protect our waterbodies from sewage discharges.

The Government expects all water companies to deliver the targets set out in the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan as fast as possible and by the target end dates at the latest.

In the Windermere catchment, the Environment Agency (EA) continues to hold United UU to account for its operations. Where the EA has issued environmental permits, it has robustly checked compliance and all assets were inspected between 2020 and 2023. Where breaches of permit conditions are identified, the EA used its powers to ensure that UU improved operations and brought sites back into compliance. The EA holds regular production meetings with UU to discuss and resolve compliance issues.

This year, the EA will begin reviewing larger volume environmental permits on the catchment – including those of UU. If current permit conditions are no longer effective at protecting the environment, the EA will impose tighter environmental standards. The EA delivers a strategic environmental monitoring programme and with environmental data collected by the Citizen Science Big Windermere Survey and other partners it is better able to understand where UU assets may be impacting on the environment. Where improvements are required, the EA will work with UU to include the improvement schemes in future Asset Management Programmes.

The speed limit on Lake Windermere is governed by local byelaws. It is for the relevant authority, in this case, the Lake District National Park Authority, to make any changes to the current speed limit, if they consider it necessary. The Secretary of State has no powers in this matter unless the authority makes changes to the current byelaws and submits them for confirmation.