Famed and celebrated across the world, Windermere is England’s most iconic and largest ‘natural’ lake. Together with the fells and farmland of its water-gathering catchment, it forms the centrepiece of the Lake District National Park. 

Its scenery, leisure attractions and tourism facilities draw seven million visitors every year to pursue a wide range of recreational activities from sailing and shopping to summit-bagging. 

Ever since the railway arrived in 1847, Windermere has been the destination for large numbers of tourists, as well as being home to a significant resident population. Beyond the built areas, most of the catchment is farmed with livestock. Water from Windermere is even abstracted as part of the North West’s drinking water supply.

But not all is well beneath the picturesque surface of Windermere’s calm reflections. A number of inter-related problems are affecting the Lake’s ecology, including the impacts of invasive species and climate heating. These directly affect the lake, but it is nutrient pollution and water quality that are the main reasons for current concerns about Windermere’s health.

Nutrient overload?

The key pollutant of concern is phosphorus, although others such as nitrogen may also be having damaging effects too. 

Levels of phosphorus entering the lake have increased dramatically above what should be expected in a rocky nutrient-poor catchment like this. With a naturally nutrient-poor underlying geology and shallow soils, the lake should be clean, clear and low in phosphorus. The foundation of its ecology should be based on a diverse community of drifting microscopic-organisms (including bacteria, plants and animals) in the water column and higher plants in the shallows and margins.

All becks, rivers and lakes have an intimate and connected relationship with the immediate catchment from which they receive their water. They’re all extremely sensitive to what happens around them through the water that drains into them. Their ecology is constantly changing as it responds quickly to environmental changes in the wider landscape. 

Human activities have had a huge impact across the Windermere catchment. We have brought large amounts of nutrients in from outside (in food grown elsewhere, fertiliser, polluted rainfall and visitors) and some nutrients have been released from within by land management. It is clear that whatever the origin, high levels of extra nutrients have created stress on the lake’s ecological capacity to deal with them, and this is the main cause of poor water quality in Windermere.

Where does excess phosphorus come from?

Phosphorus is a vital element for all living organisms, which is ultimately derived from rocks and soils. It is usually a limiting factor for growth and as such is concentrated in, and recycled by biological systems. In excess, it can become a polluting nutrient in the environment. It is thought to come from two key sources:

1. Waste water:

Shockingly, a large proportion of Windermere’s phosphorus is derived from human sewage (and washing products such as soaps and detergents that go down our sinks also contribute). This includes discharges of both treated – which may still have high levels of phosphorus after treatment – and raw, untreated sewage.

Waste water containing variable and uncertain amounts of nutrients is discharged into Windermere and its tributaries from:

• the public waste water treatment works. There are five of these in the catchment owned and managed by United Utilities.
• private waste water / sewerage systems. There are around 1,900 of these; usually with septic tanks that receive and store the waste water in ‘off-grid’ and more remote locations. 

There is concern about three aspects of waste water management. 

1. Firstly, the current process of water treatment does not necessarily remove all of the phosphorus from waste water, and there is a residual level remaining after it’s been through the ‘works’. An estimated 25–35% of the phosphorus in Windermere may have come from this source despite investment in its removal. Some sites, for example, may have phosphorus stripping technology and also disinfect the discharged water to kill any harmful bacteria before they enter becks or the lake.
2. Secondly, the routine release of raw sewage from the five public waste water treatment works during rainfall events, known as ‘storm overflows’. This occurs when the public drainage system is overwhelmed with surface water. The Environment Agency permits the regular release of untreated raw sewage to help water treatment works cope during heavy rainfall events. As a result, according to official data, raw sewage was dumped into Windermere for around 5,904 hours over a period of 246 days in 2022. Whilst this is a dramatic statistic, it is estimated to account for around 5% of the phosphorus load in Windermere: a relatively low proportion due to the diluting effects of rainfall.
3. Thirdly, it is thought that leaking or poorly maintained private systems (including septic tanks) are also discharging an unknown but probably significant amount of phosphorus into watercourses. There are no precise figures available for the actual volume of this raw sewage, but it is estimated to be the source of around 30% of the total phosphorus load in Windermere.

It is important to acknowledge the £40 million investment that United Utilities has made in recent years to reduce the levels of phosphorus coming from its water treatment works – and it has recently been announced that a further investment of £19 million has been brought forward to reduce the number of storm overflow incidents.

United Utilities reports that it has: "halved the amount of phosphorus entering the lake from our sites since 2015 and is taking steps to bring this down further…  On top of the additional £19m investment to be spent over the next two years, over the last five years we have:

• Introduced larger capacity pipes to cope with extra development in the area
• Upgraded water treatment works and utilised the latest treatment technology
• Delivered a 15% reduction in the amount of phosphorus entering Windermere from wastewater treatment, improving water quality and by using industry leading treatment capability
• Increased capacity of the sewer to Tower Wood, which has reduced spill numbers from over 200 to less than 30, further reducing impact on the environment and water quality."

In spite of this welcome work, it is calculated that around 30–40% of the Windermere nutrient problem comes from the public waste water treatment system. 

Overall, an estimated 60–70% or so of the total phosphorus load in Windermere originates from human waste water sources.  As observed by the Freshwater Biological Association (2022): “Tourists are unwitting contributors to the ecological deterioration of the sites they visit and enjoy. Visitor numbers are highest between spring and autumn, which is also the time of year when nutrients are likely to have the largest stimulating effect on the lake phytoplankton.”

This all raises serious questions about the design and capacity of the public and private water treatment infrastructure to cope with 7 million visitors a year to the Windermere catchment. 

Clearly, the collective societal investment in ‘waste water treatment infrastructure’ hasn’t kept up with the growth in the volume of waste water being generated across the catchment.

2. Land management:

An estimated 30% of the remaining phosphorus burden in Windermere is thought to come from land-use activity in the wider catchment. Phosphorus, silt and sediment can run off the land surface into becks and rivers across the catchment and eventually end up in Windermere. For example:

• Farming activity can cause the run-off of phosphorus from artificial fertilisers, from ‘point’ sources such as farm yards or slurry/muck spreading and potentially as silage effluent (which is produced when it rains on cut and lying grass before and after it’s baled and wrapped). Farm operations can also create bare soil and erosion which generates ‘diffuse’ pollution, silt and sediment – all of which may contaminate water courses and the lake.
• Silt and sediment (and the nutrients they contain) can also be released from forestry operations and the unsealed loose surfaces of footpaths and tracks - and end up in the becks and rivers.
• Untreated run-off from other dirty and contaminated surfaces such as roofs, roads and pavements may also add to the problem.

3. Other sources

Other sources of nutrient, silt and sediment (mostly of unknown volumes) include:

• Pipe ‘misconnections’ where, for example, private white goods such as washing machines, are connected to the wrong pipes and end up in Windermere directly, instead of going through waste water treatment.
• The increased numbers of wildfowl, such as Canada geese, which are attracted to the more popular visitor locations where their rich droppings can cause localised increases in nutrients. This is suspected to be a significant localised source around some sites such as Bowness Pier.

A recent review by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (Thackeray and MacKay, CEH, 2023) looked at the trends in data from the monitoring of a number of the lakes in the Windermere catchment over a number of decades. When comparing recent (2017–2021) with historic (1981-2010) data, in summary there is evidence that:

• The lakes have warmed during the spring and early summer. The North and South Basins of Windermere have an average recent surface temperature of 11.6⁰C and 11.8⁰C respectively, both are 0.8⁰C higher than the average between 1981–2010. The water is warmest in July and August before cooling in autumn;
• There is some evidence that declines in oxygen concentrations during the spring and summer months have become more pronounced in Windermere. Oxygen levels have declined by 9.1% in the North Basin compared to the 30-year average, for example.  
• In terms of phosphorus, there is some uncertainty over the long term trends and this is complicated by the ecological relevance of different forms of soluble or total phosphorus. There is evidence of a long term decline in soluble phosphorus but there is no trend data for total phosphorus which is used to assess the parameter in lakes.

The recently introduced Big Windermere Survey ran a snapshot survey of lake chemistry in February 2023, the third in the sampling series so far. Only 5% of their in-lake samples had ‘high’ compliance with good ecological standards for total phosphorus whilst 16% were rated as good.  Some 79% of these samples were ‘moderately’ or ‘poorly’ compliant with accepted standards for phosphorus status. None were ‘bad’. Of the samples taken at the lake shore – only 2% were compliant with total phosphorus standards at a high or 12% good status whilst some 86% only complied to moderate or poor levels though again none were ‘bad’.

NB these data sets are only based on ‘snap-shot’ chemical sampling rather than on continuous monitoring or longer-term indicators such as the biodiversity that’s present.

• The seasonal growth of algae typically shows two peaks, in the spring and summer. The recent annual average algal biomass has increased in Windermere north basin, but decreased in the south basin, compared to the 30-year baseline average (1981–2010) but overall average biomass is similar between the two time periods when historical variation is taken into account.   

As well as long-term, decadal-scale changes there is also great year-to-year variability in the state of the lakes depending on the weather.

A special note of warning:  the ticking ‘sludge’ timebomb

There is also evidence that a significant volume of the silt, sediment and sewage that has poured into Windermere over the last 170 years is still present. Some will have been washed into Morecambe Bay but a significant amount has been trapped in the lake and accumulated as sediment on the lake bed.

Some of the older material seems to have settled as ‘consolidated’ sediment but surveys suggest that the discharges of recent decades consist of unconsolidated, loose ‘sludge’ covering over 90% of the lake bed. 

There are strong indications that this sludge layer is another source of phosphorus that needs to be included in calculations of the phosphorus ‘budget’. Under lower oxygen levels, the sludge may start to slowly release phosphorus directly into the water, irrespective of what pollution is currently flowing into the lake, promoting even more algal growth. This could counteract efforts to clean up the pollution from waste water unless something is done to deal with the sludge.

Some speculate that this ‘reservoir’ of sludge might become even more unstable and potentially release phosphorus and nitrates rapidly if there is sudden and severe oxygen depletion.

The bottom layers of the smaller lakes – Blelham Tarn and Esthwaite Water – already experience complete oxygen depletion in summer and the formation of seasonal ‘dead’ zones. These could occur in Windermere in future.

Essentially no-one really knows the likelihood of whether this might happen or the factors that may trigger such a ‘tipping point’.

It is not clear what can be done in practice to remove or deal safely with the sludge deposit. Further detailed research is essential to understand the issues and identify / test potential solutions. Any remedies are likely to be difficult and expensive.  

The ecological impacts of phosphorus

Nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrate act in subtle ways to change and damage the ecosystem.

In more ‘natural’ clean water systems, nutrient levels are relatively low and the growth of algae, green cyano-bacteria, plants and biodiversity is generally limited by the shortage of nutrients.  Competition for the available nutrients is therefore high. A high number of species can coexist because any potentially faster-growing species are unable to outgrow and dominate the others – and the complex food web of predators and prey, grazing herbivores and plants can function, helping to keep the system in check. 

The dynamics of the system, however, change rapidly when phosphorus levels increase. A few faster-growing plant, algal and cyano-bacteria species are better able to exploit the abundant nutrients. Their prolific growth allows them to outcompete and dominate at the expense of other species, sometimes even excluding others completely. The competitive species become super-abundant as they ‘gorge’ on phosphorus and causing oxygen levels to decline especially when they die and the vegetation starts to decay. The in-built feedback mechanisms of complex food webs start to malfunction. Overall, the numbers of species decline and the resilience and functioning of the ecosystem is disrupted as the water body moves through increasingly rich nutrient stages in a sequence from nutrient-poor (oligotrophic) to enriched (mesotrophic) to rich (eutrophic). 

In short, the lake’s ecology becomes unbalanced and damaged.

This ‘nutrient overload’ is also known as the process of ‘eutrophication’ and it can be seen in many of Cumbria’s becks, rivers and lakes, with only 55% of our freshwaters meeting the criteria for good.  

The most severe examples already lie within the Windermere catchment at Blelham Tarn and Esthwaite Water. Due to the high levels of nutrients these small water bodies have regular, severe annual algal blooms and oxygen is seasonally absent from the lake bottom. They are already fully eutrophic and are effectively ‘dead’ in the summer months.

On average over the last five years, the two basins of Windermere have not been quite as eutrophic as this, probably due to the scale of the lake and the dilution effect but the indications are they may be shifting from a moderate ‘mesotrophic’ towards ‘eutrophic’ status. This is exacerbated by warm summer conditions, moderate to high levels of pollution and weather conditions which favour algal growth. Of course, we need to keep in mind that the natural status of Windermere should be nutrient-poor or ‘oligotrophic’ and sadly, the signs are that Windermere is slipping towards this undesirable state and action will be necessary to arrest its further decline.

Windermere is just perhaps the highest profile example of this pernicious and largely hidden pollution problem.

Algal blooms

One of the biggest and most visible impacts, is the profusion of algal growth which, in warm weather, causes Windermere’s now well-known blue-green algal ‘blooms’. 

Algae are ‘green’ microscopic plants (also known as ‘phytoplankton’) which are the base of the food web in the water. There are a large number of algal species, although only a few cause the blooms. They include the cyano-bacteria, which are ‘green’ bacteria and which form the bright green surface scum that’s visible during severe blooms.

As the algae grow in response to the readily available nutrients, the lake takes on a typically cloudy browny-green appearance. This is readily apparent around places such as Bowness, Windermere and Ambleside for most of the year. But fueled by high phosphorus levels during periods of warm weather, this turbid and cloudy mixture can develop into full-blown blue-green algal blooms, creating the bright green algal ‘soup’, which incorporates the cyano-bacteria, that can extend over large areas of the lake surface. 

The long hot summer of 2022 caused severe and extensive algal blooms, attracting media coverage across the world.

Blooms are not just unsightly, as the algal mass dies and decays in autumn, bacterial activity rapidly consumes the dissolved oxygen in the water column. This has potentially lethal impacts on other life such as microscopic animals, fish, aquatic invertebrates and plants. It may also lead to the further release of phosphorus from the sludge layer on the lake bottom – making the problem worse as water temperatures rise in the following spring.

Public health

Water quality has become an issue for public health risk at certain times of year, either from untreated sewage overflows or from poisonous outbreaks of blue-green algae and cyanobacteria.  Blue-green algal blooms are toxic and may cause skin irritations and stomach upsets.

There are concerns about the bathing water quality for those who enter the water to swim at the most sensitive times of year. In 2010, the prestigious Great North Swim was cancelled due to concerns about algal blooms.

Loss of marginal water plants

Over recent decades, there has also been a dramatic reduction in the extent of fringing vegetation on the banks and shallow shorelines of Windermere. The reasons for this are not fully understood, but seem to be linked to the raised levels of nutrients, increased water turbidity and wave erosion. Research has shown, for example, that some species are lost under high nutrient levels and the stems of others become brittle and more vulnerable.

This is important because fringing vegetation functions to provide shelter and habitat for the complex community of small animals which eat and consume the lake’s phytoplankton, including the species that cause algal blooms. 

This includes herbivores like the tiny but delightful water flea (Daphnia) which graze the microscopic algae. When their numbers decline, fewer algae are eaten and so there is ever less natural control of the algal blooms. The herbivore and predator-prey relationships breakdown and algal growth continues unchecked.

Some freshwater plants have declined dramatically in the Windermere catchment and one, the scarce Slender Naiad (Najas flexilis), was driven to extinction in the 1980s by the nutrient enrichment in Esthwaite Water, formerly its only known site in England.

Invasive species

There’s yet another issue. A number of the fish species that have been introduced into Windermere have also upset the ecological balance. Bottom feeding species such as roach churn up the nutrients in the lake bottom, probably making the phosphorus problem worse, and they also feed on herbivores such as Daphnia that eat algae.

Rising temperatures

Another cause for concern is the temperature of Windermere which has risen by around 0.8⁰C–1.7⁰C (depending on the study) in the last few decades and the wider impacts of the changing climate. 

The mechanisms that are driving this rapid change are not entirely understood because it seems higher than might be expected from the observed atmospheric heating in Cumbria. It may be explained by the combined effects of climate change and the lack of shading by overhanging trees on the banks of many of the shallow becks that flow into the main water body.

In a closed lake system and catchment, like Windermere, the water temperature of open upland becks flowing into the main lake can be significantly raised in warm weather and periods of warm sunshine.     

The higher the water temperature, the lower the capacity to absorb and retain oxygen – and the fewer freshwater organisms that can survive. The species make-up and abundance of the fauna present can be seriously damaged and that has knock-on impacts up the wildlife food chain on which it all depends.

Future climatic warming is predicted to increase the density of algal growth in Windermere and will be exacerbated unless nutrient concentrations are significantly reduced. Again, further research and monitoring is required to isolate the causes of heating in Windermere.

Declining fish populations

The populations of fish in Windermere are important and special. The lake is renowned for its Arctic char population, for example, a species which was once fished commercially and was consumed locally as potted char. However, the char is in decline and numbers have diminished significantly since the 1980s. This trend may be related to a combination of rising temperatures, invasive species (such as perch and roach) and poor water quality.

Atlantic salmon, which was also once a common Windermere species, is also on the verge of extinction.

What happens if nothing is done?

The risks of not dealing with these issues are obvious: water quality will remain poor and outbreaks of blue-green algae are likely to increase in a warming climate.

Inevitably the recovery of Windermere’s missing wildlife will be prevented and species in decline such as rare and important fish like char and salmon will be lost, along with the already extinct slender naiad. There’s even a risk that as the water gets even greener, seasonal ‘dead’ zones may appear, if critical tipping points are crossed. 

The health of the local economy, which is ultimately dependent on the attractiveness and health of the natural environment, is also at risk: negative publicity about poor water quality is likely to have an increasing impact on tourism and visitor numbers. The image of Windermere as a dirty lake is not good for promoting and selling Cumbria as an international destination. 

Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s view

Firstly, and most importantly, the Trust considers that the current state of Windermere is completely unacceptable. It is a national scandal that the most iconic lake in England’s largest National Park has been used and abused effectively as a dumping ground for damaging pollutants over many decades.   

The release of excess nutrients in waste water, from land management and other sources must come to an end urgently. But this is not enough on its own. We need to restore and revitalise the natural environment at a landscape-scale across the Windermere catchment; putting back habitats and wildlife from the top of the Langdale Pikes to Fell Foot in the South Basin.

The ‘system’ of regulators, Government and the structure of key organisations charged with managing and monitoring Windermere have collectively failed to meet their responsibilities to look after this sensitive environment. This is not a reflection on the many passionate, committed and concerned individuals working in these organisations, but it is systems failure of politics and a societal failure to value and look after the natural environment properly. Successive governments and organisations have failed to apply the widely recognised principle that the ‘polluter should pay to clean up the pollution they cause’ – and a major backlog of investment has now built-up. The capacity of the key regulator to act has also been hampered by the impacts of major budget cuts.

Investment has not kept up with the pace and scale of growth in mass tourism and the human pressures on the Windermere catchment – and the cumulative impact of this neglect has been apparent for years. 

The Trust strongly believes that the situation can and must be turned round: a new approach is required. One that genuinely values Windermere and its catchment, and places as much emphasis on the quality of the natural environment as it does on financial profits and the local economy. 

It is imperative that society helps the natural environment to recover by restoring habitats, species and the capacity and functionality of its ecosystems. Windermere must be restored to a healthy ecological condition as is fitting for an iconic lake at the heart of a national park. 

We need to create a Wilder Windermere with a high-quality and attractive natural environment that we can be proud to share with 7 million visitors each year.

What needs to happen

The Trust believes that urgent measures are required to immediately reduce and eliminate nutrients from all sources entering Windermere. We recognise this will require a long process of investment over many years to address direct and diffuse pollution but significant and rapid improvements can and need to be made.

A holistic approach is vital. 

This is a large, complex catchment with many stakeholders and organisations, who each can have an impact and influence on the environmental outcomes and future for Windermere. Coordinated and collaborative action will be vital if society is to successfully restore Windermere. 

The community of organisations, individuals and stakeholders needs to move beyond the current atmosphere of blame and recrimination which has polarised the debate about Windermere. Everyone seems to agree on the vision: we need to both ‘love’ and ‘save’ Windermere, and restore this national treasure to a clean, healthy and vibrant condition. Now is the time to work together across the board to identify, fund and deliver the effective actions that will solve the Windermere problem for this and future generations.

Alongside the critical need for investment in waste water treatment in the public and private sectors, nature recovery at a landscape-scale across the catchment is key and central to Windermere’s future. It is vital that landscape-scale programmes to repair and restore damaged habitats and bring back Windermere’s missing wildlife are developed and delivered across the whole catchment. 

The Trust has developed an eleven-point plan to fix Windermere.

Our eleven-point plan for a Wilder Windermere

1. There is an urgent need for an ambitious, long-term and holistic vision for a Wilder Windermere, which is shared and supported by the widest community of stakeholders.

The Trust proposes the following draft vision as an example of what it could say: 

Windermere will be a wilder, living lake with crystal-clear and clean water in which people can swim, sail and enjoy the Lake District’s special qualities.

This vision for a Wilder Windermere would bring an ambitious mission including:

• A target to achieve good ecological status and zero-nutrient inputs by 2030 has been agreed and set;
• A nature recovery network across the wider catchment – where nature is in recovery and missing wildlife is put back into the lake and landscape;
• Nature-based solutions being deployed to fix the specific problems;
• People being able to swim, fish and sail with confidence and enjoy the lake’s special qualities. 
• Valuing people; ensuring their engagement and supporting the local community to take action to care for Windermere;
• The delivery of National Park ‘purposes’ – i.e. to conserve and enhance its special qualities for the benefit of people and the nation;
• A thriving local economy which is based on, sustained by and rooted-in the good health of Windermere’s natural capital - and its capacity to renew itself;
• An ecologically resilient future for Windermere;

… as befits such an internationally important and iconic place.

2. A comprehensive 25-year Windermere Action Plan to achieve the vision to reduce and eliminate all nutrient inputs to zero.  This must engage and have the support and involvement of the local community and all stakeholders. 

It must be delivered through a rolling programme of supporting 5-year intermediary action plans.

It is vital to integrate and align all the available tools and mechanisms through the Plan e.g. involve the appropriate mix of both enforcement, public payments, private investment and positive incentives to achieve effective behavioural change in the wider holistic interest.

A continuing programme of investment to upgrade waste water treatment and improve land management is necessary as part of this.

As part of this, and in addition to the investments that have already been announced, this could involve:

• A programme to bring as many private septic tanks onto the mains sewer network as possible
• A significant expansion in the capacity of water treatment facilities to cope with the volume of waste water alongside the introduction of higher standards of water treatment to all of the waste water treatment works (a fourth tier rather than simply tertiary treatment).
• A wide range of nature-based solutions applied across the catchment to reduce nutrients from land management practices but also to use land management to help soak up and take / store nutrients safely out of circulation.

3. There is a need for a new single-purpose and independent organisation (e.g., a Community Interest Organisation or similar with democratic accountability to Westmorland and Furness Council) to develop and deliver the 25-Year Windermere Plan as a trusted and responsible operator charged with taking a holistic integrated approach to the wider needs of the catchment. 

This independent but publicly-accountable organisation should be appointed as the ‘Windermere Catchment Operator’ and given responsibility to produce and deliver the 25-year Windermere Plan. The core of this body could draw staff and resources from the current Defra Agencies (and potentially NGOs) to form a dedicated co-located ‘unit’ focussed on improving Windermere.  It should not be distracted by other priorities so that it can focus its energy, drive and determination on bringing together all of the ‘levers’ at its disposal to ‘fix’ Windermere. This includes bringing together the resources and current spending budgets of the Defra agencies in Windermere. 

This organisation should coordinate and focus the wider partnership of interested stakeholders and members of the local community who can contribute to the delivery of the Plan and/or who can influence the outcomes. 

It will provide the delivery mechanism and potentially hold the green financing contracts for blended private and public financing.

4. A natural capital (aka Green Financing Strategy) investment proposition must be developed alongside the 25-year Windermere Plan to attract public and private investment to deliver its actions. 

Significant private and public investment is required for the recovery of the natural environment, land management and water treatment infrastructure. 

Producing a natural capital investment plan will require the development of a full set of Natural Capital Accounts for Windermere and to use these to model a series of investment scenarios as a basis for attracting the external ‘green’ finance necessary to deliver the 25-year Windermere Plan.

A mechanism to generate income streams against which investors can be repaid (a model to secure a return on investment) must be identified in Windermere. This opens the opportunity to apply the ‘polluter pays’ principle through a range of possible mechanisms such as a business levy and/or tourist levy.

5. A robust, independent and reliable evidence base is vital to monitor and track environmental change and to evaluate whether the efforts and actions to restore Windermere are successful.  This should be held and driven by the Catchment Operator or other local organisation.

6. Nature recovery across the Windermere Catchment is an urgent priority and must be a central element of the 25-Year Windermere Plan:  nature-based solutions are key to fixing Windermere and we need to see the restoration of wild species, habitats and natural processes at scale and in the right locations to create a nature recovery network.  This should specifically include programmes of:

• Riparian tree planting to shade becks and rivers and mitigate against heating in the Lake’s tributaries.
• Reintroduction of keystone species such as beavers in the upper catchment to help slow the flow, clean the water, create wetlands and promote wider habitat and species recovery.  Keystone species can also support Windermere as a thriving nature-based tourism destination.

7. Windermere should be legally designated as a protected Lake by Natural England.  This could be an important mechanism to drive the Lake’s recovery and restoration.  It is also important as a means of engendering more pride in Windermere and getting its significance valued, recognised and appreciated more widely.

8. No further development should be permitted in the catchment until the phosphorus and nitrate problems are resolved unless it can meet a zero-nutrient standard.  Development management decisions should link clearly to a zero-nutrient requirement for all new development (and be reflected in planning permissions and related conditions).

In a World Heritage Site and National Park, there is justification to apply a higher threshold on a voluntary basis. The links between development management, waste water treatment capacity and the environment should be recognised and made clear. 

The role of the Planning Authority in safeguarding the National Park’s special qualities is a statutory purpose whilst the need to have regard to promoting economic growth and development is a duty.

9. There should be a higher threshold and greater use of statutory enforcement powers by the Environment Agency and Planning Authority for illegal or non-consented pollution.  Greater resources should be provided to the Environment Agency and delegated to the Catchment Operator for its role in Windermere.

10. Biomanipulation and biomediation should be trialled and tested in Windermere to remove, eradicate and/or control significant invasive alien species that disrupt its ecology.  For example, selective and systematic removal of roach would reduce the predation on Daphnia and reduce the churning of bottom sediments whilst also removing a substantial quantity of phosphorus.

11. A detailed research programme is necessary to collect and analyse the evidence base and to support future management decisions.