Water firm slammed by Feargal Sharkey for dumping uncooked sewage

A water company has been slammed after it has been pumping raw sewage into Windermere in the Lake District for eight days, with Irish singer Feargal Sharkey blaming water companies ‘greed, profiteering, financial engineering and regulatory incompetence’.

A map from water company United Utilities, which supplies wastewater services across the northwest of England, shows that storm overflows at two water treatment plants have been dumping untreated raw sewage since August 22.

One is an outfall at Near Sawrey sewage works into Cunsey Beck, which flows into Lake Windermere – England’s largest lake. The other is at Hawkshead Pumping Station which also goes to Windermere. 

Operators of the plants, United Utilities, said that the spills were due to ‘heavy rainfall’ in the area, pointing out that there were weather warnings in place for the area and rainfall over 40mm between August 21 and 27.

Storm overflows are an emergency relief valve for the water network which spills sewage into seas and rivers when there is heavy rainfall to stop it from backing up into homes.

Water company United Utilities has been slammed after it has been pumping raw sewage into Windermere in the Lake District for eight days (stock image)

Former Undertones singer turned campaigner, Feargal Sharkey, said: ‘Sewage dumping has nothing whatsoever to do with heavy rain. It is caused by greed, profiteering, financial engineering and regulatory incompetence. Fix those and you fix the sewage scandal’

But there is mounting evidence that suggests spills are happening when there is no heavy rainfall and they do not absolutely need to.

Campaigners do not believe water firms claims that heavy rainfall is the reason for the excessive sewage dumping and instead say the blame is on a lack of investment.

Former Undertones singer turned campaigner, Feargal Sharkey, said: ‘Sewage dumping has nothing whatsoever to do with heavy rain.

‘It is caused by greed, profiteering, financial engineering and regulatory incompetence.

‘Fix those and you fix the sewage scandal.’

In an interview on BBC Radio 4 Today, the 66-year-old was asked if the personal criminal liability for water bosses and the banning of bonuses for water bosses in the new water bill would address the issue.

In response, he said: ‘Whitehall has no monopoly in any of this by any means. Welsh Water, for example, is actually the largest sewage dumper in the United Kingdom. Scotland has any number of rivers in bad ecological condition. Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland has been poisoned to the extent that it too now turns green, like Windermere.

Great stretches of Lake Windermere’s water has been turning alarming shades of green 

Data analysis found that sewage was spilled into the lake for over 9,000 hours in 2023 (stock image)

He added: ‘The truth is, all of the laws there existed for 35 years. All of the regulations we need enforced with enthusiasm, drive and ambition and government plays a part in that. 

‘I cannot find a single example of any director of any company anywhere in the UK that has even been prosecuted, never mind sent to jail, for a breach of the companies act. 

‘The truth is, what we really need is a complete and utter root and branch review of the whole sorry mess, this stagnant pool of sewage that we are all standing in. 

‘We need a system that works and functions both for bill payers and the environment and we need to put an end to this contemptuous display of water companies in the last few days. Stamping their foot, demanding bill increases of 40, 50, 60 per cent and if they don’t get it they’re now trying to blackmail society that they’ll undermine the attempts to deal with the housing shortage. The attempts to build 1.8 million homes. 

‘That’s an absolute outrage that any industry would try to extort the nation’s society and bill payers. The government needs to take charge and the regulators need to do their jobs.’

Steve Coogan (front row left) and Paul Whitehouse (front row right) joined up with members of Dum Nation during the Save Windermere campaign in Cumbria last year

Pictured is Coogan speaking during a Save Windermere campaign in May 2023

Matt Staniek from the Save Windermere campaign, backed by celebrities such as Steve Coogan, analysed data from the Environment Agency and found that sewage was spilled into the lake for over 9,000 hours in 2023.

He said: ‘United Utilities and other water companies prioritise dividends over environmental protection, despite having funds to prevent sewage dumping into national treasures like Windermere.

‘Their proposed investment is inadequate, fails to address core issues such as volume, and costs should not be passed to customers, especially given evidence of illegality.’

A United Utilities spokesperson said: ‘Storm overflows are designed to operate during heavy rainfall as we have seen in the Lake District in recent days, with more than double the amount of average rainfall.

‘August has seen more rainfall than any other month and is the fourth wettest… since January 2021.’