West Cumbria

For more than 120 years, water for homes and businesses in West Cumbria came from local sources, including Ennerdale.

The lake and the River Ehen, play host to many rare and protected species. It’s a very special place and we have an important role to make sure it stays this way.

With a growing population, and to help protect these precious local bodies of water, we constructed a new water treatment works and connecting pipeline to utilise Thirlmere Reservoir as the new source of water for West Cumbria. Construction began in 2015 and in 2022 homes and businesses began to receive their water from Thirlmere.

Our project involved the construction of a huge new 100km pipeline, a new water treatment plant and a range of supporting infrastructure to supply around 80,000 homes and businesses in and around the towns of Egremont, Cockermouth and Whitehaven. 

Find out more about our long-term plans for Ennerdale Water