Since 1970, Earth Day has been celebrated across the world, honouring the achievements of the environmental movement and raising awareness of the need to protect earth’s natural resources for future generations.
To mark this special day and as part of our ongoing environmental commitment, we are delighted to announce Bath House has become a partner of the Save Windermere campaign and will be championing this local cause. The campaign’s mission is “to return Windermere to its ecologically natural state, through the complete removal of all treated and untreated sewage discharges onto the Windermere catchment.”
This beautiful lake is an iconic place loved by millions and is located at the very heart of the Lake District. It is a key part of the Lake District’s UNESCO world heritage site status. Lake Windermere is England’s largest lake at 10.5 miles long, and its deepest point is 219 feet. Many of the team at Bath House share personal connections with Windermere and two of our shops in Bowness and Ambleside are located on its shores. It has inspired writers, poets and artists and it is a special place for families and those wanting to connect with nature, and certainly, many of our customers who visit our stores really appreciate all it has to offer.
But Windermere has a deep ecological problem which has been recently highlighted on the news and on several TV shows, the latest being Paul Whitehouse’s ‘Our Troubled Rivers’, recently aired on the BBC.
Each year, the problem of green algae, especially in the height of summer, is a very visible and deeply disturbing issue, putting swimmers, dogs and wildlife at risk. This occurs when excessively high phosphorus levels are present in the water, leading to dangerous amounts of nutrients which in turn create potentially toxic algae blooms.
Matt Staniek, a locally born zoologist, is the leading campaigner of the ‘Save Windermere’ campaign. He has witnessed in his lifetime this problem getting significantly worse. He has identified it as “the most significant contributor of phosphorus into Lake Windermere is United Utilities water treatment works”.
“In 2022 there were 246 full days of sewage discharged into the Windermere catchment.”
Sewage is one of the principal factors driving the high levels of algae in Windermere. The ‘Save Windermere’ campaign wants to highlight the actions of United Utilities and call for a significant reduction in this discharge of sewage.
So please join us in celebrating Earth Day and doing something to help our environment. To learn more about the ‘Save Windermere’ campaign visit www.savewindermere.com and see how you can help and find out about events to join in with. Simply signing the petition is a good start.
We want to protect Lake Windermere so that it continues to be a beautiful and safe place where we can all connect with nature, just as it’s been in the past and can be for generations to come.
