Clean water campaigners claim victory in Windermere sewage case

The water company United Utilities has conceded defeat in its legal battle to block public access to data on treated sewage it is discharging into Windermere in the Lake District.

Company officials initially claimed that data from phosphorus monitors at a main sewage treatment works at the lake was not environmental information. The company also wanted to block access to data from Cunsey Beck, a site of special scientific interest, which flows into Windermere.

The company argued that disclosing unverified data might “negatively impact public confidence regarding the way in which water companies operate their assets”.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) ruled last year that the information should be disclosed, but United Utilities appealed. The Observer has been told that the water company has now withdrawn its appeals, which were expected to be heard early this year.

Campaigner Matt Staniek said legal attempts to block disclosure of the information on treated sewage were a waste of bill payers’ money. Photograph: Richard Saker/The Observer

Matt Staniek, founder of the campaign group Save Windermere, which made the requests for the data, said the attempts to block disclosure of the information were “outrageous” and a “complete waste of bill payers’ money”. He added: “The decision notices from the information commissioner supporting Save Windermere’s arguments can be used by campaigners across the country who face issues accessing information from water companies.

“We now want to see Labour fulfilling its commitments in the lead-up to the general election by ending sewage pollution in Windermere.”

The Observer revealed in November how seven United Utilities sewage plants and pumping stations in the Lake District were alleged to have illegally spilled sewage on 501 days from 2018 to 2023.

It included a pumping station estimated in a BBC report to have pumped 140m litres of waste into Windermere in three years.

Campaigners want Labour to back a new infrastructure project to end the discharges into Windermere. They say the lake is now regularly blighted by blue-green algae, which is linked to increased pollution.

The illegal dumping of sewage by water companies across England and Wales has become one of the big political issues in recent years. The government has introduced a water (special measures) bill giving regulators new powers to ban bonuses and impose tougher penalties for breaking the law, including imprisonment for water bosses.

In October last year, United Utilities was reprimanded by the ICO for failing to properly handle requests for environmental information from the public.

The ICO said: “We found that the water company often refuses to respond to requests because they claim that the information being requested isn’t environmental. We have now instructed United Utilities to take a much broader interpretation of environmental information in line with decisions made by the commissioner.”

A United Utilities spokesperson, said: “In our commitment to being more transparent, we are making information even more accessible.

“We welcome clarifications made by the Information Commissioner’s Office and will continue to engage with its processes to ensure what is disclosed falls under the scope of [environmental information regulations].”

The spokesperson added: “In Windermere we have, so far, invested £75m upgrading our treatment works and pumping stations.

“We are now delivering at pace a further £200m of investment in the catchment as we make further improvements to ensure we treat wastewater to even higher standards, alongside significantly reducing discharges from the six storm overflows that discharge into the lake.”