Realtime pollution alerts needed on Windermere, campaigners say after boy nearly dies | Lake District

Real-time pollution alerts are urgently needed in Windermere, campaigners have said, as the mother of a seven-year-old boy who was kayaking on the lake described how he almost died after contracting a dangerous strain of pollution. E.coli contaminated water.

Claire Earley’s son Rex spent six weeks in hospital and underwent two emergency operations after a family kayaking trip to Windermere last August.

Rex contracted the same strain of E.coli as nine-year-old Heather Preen, who died in 1999 after swimming in Devon and was featured in the recent Channel 4 drama Dirty Business, which covered the sewage scandal which has damaged Britain’s waterways due to a lack of investment and maintenance since the privatization of the industry.

The family supports calls for real-time pollution alerts on the lake, which welcomes seven million visitors a year and generates £750 million for the local economy.

Earley said the experience traumatized his family.

“I noticed the water was cloudy,” Earley said. “But I had looked at the Environment Agency website and it showed the water was of excellent quality in Windermere, so I was reassured.

“It’s terrifying. We were doing something that any regular family does on vacation. People need to know what the dangers are. I can’t imagine when we’re going to go back in the water, and it’s really hard because we’re an outdoor family.”

Matt Staniek of campaign group Save Windermere, which wants to end all sewage discharge into the lake, said human stories of illness revealed how the state of Windermere’s bathing waters was not fit for purpose.

There are four bathing water areas in Windermere which are tested by the EA between May and September. But Staniek said people frequently used the water outside of those locations, including the Earley family who was at a specialty kayaking facility at the Brockhole Visitor Center.

A few weeks before using the lake, Olympic marathon runner Hector Pardoe independently monitored the water quality in real time as he swam across the lake. Independent laboratory analysis recorded E coli levels at 6,898 colony-forming units per 100 ml – more than eight times the expected threshold for excellent bathing water classification.

“We are told that Windermere’s water quality is ‘excellent,’ but that label is dangerously misleading,” Staniek said. “People end up in hospital. Windermere receives no daily pollution forecasts under the Environment Agency’s National Pollution Risk Forecast System, which operates at some coastal sites.”

Staniek says he wants to see targeted, high-frequency sampling to support forecast models outside of the four swimming sites, as well as public signage and an accessible online portal providing real-time pollution information.

A motion submitted to Parliament by Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron supports the call.

Earley, from Bradford, said: “There were a lot of people swimming and paddling in the lake we were at that day. It wasn’t at one of the lake’s four swimming areas, but at a kayaking center.”

The family went kayaking for about 45 minutes. That evening at their campsite, Rex became very ill, suffering from stomach cramps and rectal bleeding.

The family packed their bags and rushed home, where he was admitted to hospital the next day. Laboratory tests were positive for E.coli – later confirmed as E.coli 0157, a dangerous bacterial infection contracted from contaminated water.

Three days later, Rex was transferred to Leeds Children’s Hospital where he was diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a life-threatening condition usually resulting from E.coli infection.

He underwent surgery to prepare for kidney dialysis, which he underwent for 10 days before being allowed to return home in mid-September. But soon after, he felt severe pain again and was taken back to the hospital, where doctors found that his lung had collapsed, due to the HUS affecting his pancreas and sending fluid into his lungs.

“He’s back to normal now,” Earley said. “He was so sick, he looked horrible, but he was a real soldier.”

Graham Jackson, 42, who lives in Cartmel, has swum in the lake all his life. But last June, after swimming with his children while they were paddleboarding near Newby Bridge, Jackson also fell ill. He developed a urinary tract infection that escalated into life-threatening sepsis when antibiotics failed.

Hospital tests confirmed it was an infection E.coli strain resistant to many common antibiotics. After 10 days on intravenous antibiotics, Jackson was discharged, but his condition suddenly deteriorated again and he suffered septic shock.

“My blood pressure completely dropped and the paramedics hospitalized me again for another 10 days,” Jackson said. The consultant at Furness General Hospital told Jackson he believed swimming at Windermere had caused the infection.

“I grew up here, I spent my childhood swimming at Fell Foot. I just want my kids to be able to do the same thing without getting sick,” Jackson said.

The source of sewage pollution in Windermere includes discharges from United Utilities treatment plants and storm overflows, as well as 1,800 private septic tanks and private sewage treatment plants.

United Utilities said storm overflows at Brockhole had not spilled for more than three weeks before Aug. 26, 2025, when the Earley family went kayaking. The company said it had no assets within 5.7 km (3.5 miles) of the Newby Bridge.

A major technical study underway at Windermere, funded by United Utilities and carried out by engineering firm Jacobs, is examining ways to eliminate any sewage pollution from the World Heritage-listed lake. The report is expected to be delivered in July. Staniek said the government should implement the study as soon as it is completed.

The EA said in a statement: “The four designated bathing waters at Windermere have been consistently rated excellent since 2015 under strict standards of monitoring and data analysis set out by law which we must meet. We are continuing our extensive monitoring program at Windermere, including testing for bacteria which can [affect] human health on a weekly basis throughout the swimming season.

A spokesperson for United Utilities said: “Windermere is incredibly special to many of us, and it is upsetting to hear that someone may have fallen ill after visiting the lake. Our hearts go out to those affected. Although we have not been contacted by individuals or health authorities, we take such concerns very seriously.”

The company said it was making the biggest investment in wastewater infrastructure around the lake in more than a century, spending £200m over the next four years to reduce discharges from storm overflows and improve wastewater treatment at its sites.