Tourism mode activated in Windermere

It's not just the hotels and B&Bs of Windermere that prepare for the influx of visitors to the area during the summer months. We step into tourist mode too, to make sure we're geared up for all those turning taps and extra toilet flushes.

Andrew Kendall, Cumbria county business leader, tells us how we prepare our wastewater services to cope with the increased demand. In his own words, Andrew says he's 'a proud Cumbrian'. He started his career at UU as an apprentice back in 2001, spending his first day at Windermere treatment works. 

Andrew, tell us, when do your preparations for the busy summer season begin?

Our preparations start around eight weeks before Easter, at which point we slowly add ammonium sulphate into our treatment process. Adding this helps the microorganisms in the process gradually adapt to increased levels of ammonia before the extra visitors arrive. We call these the “good bugs”.

These “good bugs” eat the nutrients and clean the water for us. With specific conditions these bugs grow and multiply, removing ammonia and treating the wastewater. The more bugs we have cleaning the water, the quicker we can send the wastewater to the next stage of the treatment process.

So how does the volume fluctuate during peak tourist season?

Our wastewater treatment works are sized to treat the sewage from maximum population numbers at peak times and use the highest treatment standards including phosphorus removal and UV treatment to kill bacteria.

What extra processes do you have at Windermere to ensure treated wastewater is bathing water quality?

The final step before we return the water to the environment is to give the water a suntan! Believe it or not UV technology is very effective at killing bacteria. This is an extra level of treatment we’ve installed to protect Windermere’s four bathing waters.

We shine UV light tubes into the water (just like the light bulbs you would find on a sunbed). We have sensitive monitors constantly measuring how clear the water is and how much flow there is. This tells the plant how many banks of ultra-violet light bulbs need to be switched on in order to zap enough light energy into the treated sewage to kill the bacteria.

This final stage of treatment makes sure the treated wastewater is of the highest quality before it returns to the environment.

We are really pleased that the four bathing sites in Windermere have once again been rated excellent by the Environment Agency in the latest round of classifications. The results of this are based on samples taken from each of the four sites, Fell Foot, Lakeside YMCA, Millerground Landing and Rayrigg Meadow, throughout the bathing waters season which runs from May to September.

What does United Utilities have planned to further improve Windermere’s water quality?

We’ve got big investment plans for four sites around Windermere which are being developed right now. Through the Better Rivers programme, we are investing an additional £41m into the Windermere catchment, with £19m of that being spent over the next two years to further reduce storm overflows around Windermere at Elterwater, Hawkshead, Ambleside and Near Sawrey, reducing spills by 50% on 2022 figures.

At Ambleside, Elterwater and Hawkshead we’re planning to build storage tanks which together will be large enough to hold around 11 million litres of storm water – the equivalent of more than four Olympic-sized swimming pools. This extra capacity works towards reducing the amount of spills from storm overflows during heavy rainfall events.

While at Near Sawrey we’re developing a surface water separation scheme. This will see rainwater diverted away from the sewer network to a Sustainable Drainage Solution (SuDS) feature in a landscaped area where it will be able to soak away into the ground naturally, freeing up capacity in the sewer network and at the local wastewater treatment plant. Plans will be submitted for all projects this summer, with work expected to start next year.

In the meantime, our engineers have been working to see what can be done right now, including bringing some older tanks back into operation to hold storm water. These tanks are now on standby to stop up to 40,000 litres of storm water going into Windermere. Over the year that’s going to reduce the number of storm spills. These tanks will remain in use until the new solution is completed in 2027.

In addition to this work at Windermere, we also have a multi-million-pound project underway at Staveley to enhance the infrastructure and we’re fast-tracking new solutions at 28 sites across the North West this summer, including Cark-in-Cartmel. The work will increase treatment and storage capacity, limiting the chances of the works becoming overwhelmed during periods of heavy rainfall and reducing the number of times the storm overflows at these locations will operate, helping to reduce storm overflow spills by 60% over the decade to 2030.

Don't forget, when you're in the area, to pop along to the Information Centre on 8 Cresent Road, Windermere, LA23 1EA.

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