First Time Sewerage – Windermere Pilot Scheme

Windermere is an iconic waterbody and United Utilities is working in partnership with other organisations to help protect its water quality well into the future. We’re investing £200 million over the next five years which will not only improve treatment standards at nine of our wastewater treatment works across the Windermere catchment but also significantly reduce spills from the six storm overflows. 

Alongside the water company assets, there are around 89 businesses and more than 1,800 private septic tanks which drain into the lake and can ultimately influence its water quality and the amount of nutrients in the water. Therefore, we set up a pilot scheme, designed to increase awareness of the first time sewerage process. This will help us understand the community appetite for public sewer provision and whether there are any barriers within the existing process which might restrict applications or take-up. The areas chosen for the pilot scheme were those known to have a high number of private septic tanks. 

The three initial areas chosen were: 

• Skelwith Bridge
• A cluster of properties close to Tower Wood, Windermere
• An area just outside Ambleside 

Due to the lack of expressions of interest received from the Ambleside area, this was not progressed to the official application stage. In this time a large amount of community interest gathered in Troutbeck and with the area meeting the criteria for this pilot scheme, this area was added: 

• Troutbeck  

Properties in each pilot scheme area (Skelwith Bridge, Tower Wood and Troutbeck) were then invited to join a specific community application form, to co-ordinate the process. Once the deadline for applications passed, the next steps were to evaluate potential options for providing a public sewer in each pilot scheme area. This included considerations such as engineering, viability, cost and the implications at the nearest wastewater treatment works. 

These potential solutions are now in the evaluation stage, and we will shortly be communicating back to the pilot area properties on our findings and any next steps.