More than 4m hours of raw sewage discharges poured into rivers and seas last year, a 129% increase on the previous 12 months. Total discharges from the 14,000 storm overflows owned by English water companies that release untreated sewage into rivers and coastal waters increased by 59% to 477,972, making 2023 the worst year for sewage spills.

Pollution from emergency overflow pipes into canals, coastal waters and rivers has not always been recorded until now. Water companies in England and Wales will be required to install monitors on an additional 7,000 emergency overflow pipes used to dump sewage into the nation’s waterways, the environmental watchdog has said.

In this two-part series we will explore swimming in Windermere. The ‘quality’ of the bathing water in Windermere is monitored by the EA, but as this mini-series will demonstrate, the EA’s reporting on bathing water quality is often misleading and, in our opinion, should not be used as a reliable indicator when deciding whether it is safe to enter the water. Part 1 focusses on the risks of Cyanobacteria and the inadequacies of sampling and monitoring of BGA.

Esthwaite Lodge pumping station, which discharges into a Site of Special Scientific Interest, has no event duration monitor on the outflow, so the Agency has no idea how much sewage is being spilled into the lake.

The EA says they are reviewing the permits for Windermere, but what are they going to do about the ecological damage already done? Moreover, how can we now trust them to put permits in place that are fit for purpose, when the old ones have been shown to be woefully inadequate to protect Windermere and its rivers?

This is why we are calling for a public inquiry. The regulator is failing, and we need to know why.

Hundreds of permits that allow water companies to dump sewage into Britain’s rivers have not been updated by Government officials for decades with some remaining unchanged since the 1950s.

There has been a "huge" loss of insects in streams because of sewage discharges, according to a conservation charity. Wildfish surveyed five streams feeding into Windermere in Cumbria and found all saw a loss of wildlife downstream of waste water treatment plants.

Insects and other invertebrates declined by almost two thirds downstream of a sewage treatment works on a key river feeding into Windermere. The fresh evidence of harm to rivers replenishing England’s largest lake comes in the same month a 95-year-old science group resigned from a partnership with the local water company, in protest over the pace at which it is being cleaned up.

We are thrilled to unveil the annual summary of our primary data collection initiative conducted in collaboration with WildFish. Although we are appalled by the findings. Read the full report and watch the film here.

The smelly, nasty bacteria that spells bad news for rivers is flourishing in the UK. Here is how to spot it and what it means.

No 10 is accused of 'smoke and mirrors' as it announces it will consult on banning bonuses for polluting water firms' bosses. Save Windermere believes plans from the Government to ban bonuses for the bosses of water firms polluting Britain’s rivers do not go far enough and chief executives should face jail time instead.

An investigation has revealed the location of almost 7,000 'emergency overflows' used by water companies to dump sewage, the majority of which are not being monitored by regulators.

Meal attended by Environment Agency and Ofwat chairs attacked as outrageous example of ‘regulatory capture’. Water company bosses and the chairs of the regulator Ofwat and the Environment Agency went for dinner at an exclusive private members’ club to discuss how to quell public anger over bill rises and sewage spills.