Windermere sewage = sickening

coupe69

coupe69

coupe69

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Why on earth are we allowing companies to dump raw sewage straight into a Unesco World Heritage site? This isn't just a small amount, the figures are quite frankly astounding. United Utilities allegedly pumped sewage into the lake for 10 hours at a rate of 500 litres per second! And this isn't the first time it's happened either.

It makes me sad and quite angry that this type of thing is going on in this day and age. I'm no expert, but surely there's got to be a better way of dealing with this **** than pumping it straight into a freshwater lake? :(

BBC news article
 
coupe69 said:
Why on earth are we allowing companies to dump raw sewage straight into a Unesco World Heritage site?
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We are not allowing that, clue is in the first line of the article. 'Illegally pumped'.

Sometimes its allowed, but in this case it was actually illegal.
 
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Makes me sad - as a kid loved heading to he lakes and Windermere always had a bit of a romanticised aspect to it, not just because of some of the books set around it.

Sadly this is how it is in the UK especially in recent years, no one gives a **** until they are caught out.
 
200sols said:
We are not allowing that, clue is in the first line of the article. 'Illegally pumped'.
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They are legally allowed to pump sewage into the lake providing certain caveats are met. Obviously not in the case I've highlighted though, however I'm sure they'll get round it by using some technicality which was "out of their control"
 
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Rroff said:
Makes me sad - as a kid loved heading to he lakes and Windermere always had a bit of a romanticised aspect to it, not just because of some of the books set around it.

Sadly this is how it is in the UK especially in recent years, no one gives a **** until they are caught out.
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It happened when you were a kid as well, you just didn't know about it. United utilities seem to be the worst offender as well for these illegal ones and then dodgy cover ups, late reporting etc. Regulator needs to make an example.
 
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200sols said:
It happened when you were a kid as well, you just didn't know about it. United utilities seem to be the worst offender as well for these illegal ones and then dodgy cover ups, late reporting etc. Regulator needs to make an example.
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There was nothing like the amounts of algae, etc. back then compared to recent years though and while a different era reports of people getting sick due to were far less often.
 
The fact that storm water systems drain into sewage systems and thus all the rainfall goes into the sewage plant causing it to overflow is one of the most short-sighted design decisions in history, imho.
 
Rroff said:
There was nothing like the amounts of algae, etc. back then compared to recent years though and while a different era reports of people getting sick due to were far less often.
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Algae growth is directly linked to heat and nutrients. Far more tourists these days and its also hotter, they have done studies on it. Treated sewage rather than untreated is still high in nutrients and is allowed to be discharged into the rivers feeding windermere.

Recent study on it https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68953523

"In the press there's a lot about untreated sewage," Mr Staniek says. "But in relation to Windermere and the ecological damage that's being inflicted upon our lake, the treated sewage is as much of a problem," he said
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Also UU moaning about the cost of going down the 'no discharge' route while upping their dividends. You really couldnt make it up.
 
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It's laughably poor that the EA response is "Well if they don't self report in time then we can't gather evidence and then all we can do is wag our fingers at them" So basically there's no reason on earth for the water companies to even consider reporting it until it's done and dusted and then just say "Oops, delays innit".
 
coupe69 said:
They are legally allowed to pump sewage into the lake providing certain caveats are met. Obviously not in the case I've highlighted though, however I'm sure they'll get round it by using some technicality which was "out of their control"
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They've probably already scheduled the "breakage" of the monitoring system...

IIRC apparently there was basically little or no punishment for the companies to install, let alone maintain sensors and keep records of how long they pumped sewerage into waterways, but there was for if they did keep accurate records and went over...

I think it was last year the BBC were filming a report next to one of the outlets that people were complaining about and it started up, when the BBC asked about if that outlet had been discharging into the river they were told it hadn't.
 
tom_e said:
It's laughably poor that the EA response is "Well if they don't self report in time then we can't gather evidence and then all we can do is wag our fingers at them" So basically there's no reason on earth for the water companies to even consider reporting it until it's done and dusted and then just say "Oops, delays innit".
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Yup

The punishment for delaying reporting, or not having sensors etc checked and fixed within a reasonable timespan should be on a par with the worst case fine for actually discharging.

At the moment there is absolutely no reason for the companies to even attempt to keep accurate records and every incentive to have "broken" sensors or late reporting.
 
Our leaders think they are American cowboys.

We've imported no shame corruption. This is the downside of privatisation. It's not regulated correctly.

UU are on public record for polluting for decades.
 
Hindsight

Selling off the UK's water to be run by private companies who only care about shareholder profits was ludicrous, despite the under-investment at the time.

Those companies started with zero debt, they now have debts of £60 billion combined.

In that time they have paid out £53 billion in Dividends.

How does that compute?
 
VincentHanna said:
Hindsight

Selling off the UK's water to be run by private companies who only care about shareholder profits was ludicrous, despite the under-investment at the time.

Those companies started with zero debt, they now have debts of £60 billion combined.

In that time they have paid out £53 billion in Dividends.

How does that compute?
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Human greed.

Virtually all the problems we face as a society are due to greed and the fact that some **** think they are worth vastly more than others.

www.thisismoney.co.uk

Water boss makes £30m at Britain's biggest polluter United Utilities

The huge sum paid to Steve Mogford since he became chief executive in 2011 is thought to be a record for the water industry.
www.thisismoney.co.uk www.thisismoney.co.uk

No one is worth £2/3 million a year. The system is broken.
 
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