If you observe discolouration, odour, blue-green algae, ​ or other evidence of pollution in any water,
​including dead or dying fish or other wildlife,
immediately take a photo and report a water pollution incident to
the Environment Agency on 0800 80 70 60 and ask them for an incident number.

Report blue-green algal blooms to the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology via their Bloomin’ Algae app 
(available from the App Store and Google Play).

In addition you can report concerns about polluting drains/pipes/outlets in the Ambleside area directly to the AAFAF water group by using the 'contact us' button and addressing your email to the water group coordinator.

AAFAF Water Group

The AAFAF water group was set up to be a part of safeguarding the health of our local water courses and water bodies: by monitoring their current condition, taking practical action to improve the situation, plus lobbying/working with the organisations, agencies, and landowners that have the power to improve the situation. 

Since 70% of the volume of water that enters Windermere passes through Ambleside via the rivers Rothay and Brathay, we feel particularly responsible for the stewardship of their catchment area which lies within the boundaries of the Lakes Parish.​

Our vision is to see a catchment-wide approach to managing the health of the water in our region, with the cleanliness and health of our water elevated to a priority for individuals, businesses, landowners and government, with rewetting, reforesting, remeandering, regenerative farming, and reduction of pollution being implemented as key elements in slowing the flow, restoring biodiversity, and increasing the resilience of our water bodies to climate change.

Our 25-year Vision
'By 2050, Ambleside will be the focal point of a catchment sustainably delivering crystal-clear and clean water to Windermere, allowing people to continue to enjoy the special qualities of both the Lake and its surrounding fells, and nature to thrive, restoring the catchment’s ecosystems to their historic biodiversity.'

What does '2050' look like?
1. The Rothay and Brathay catchments, including Elterwater, Grasmere and Rydal Water maintain Excellent water quality during all seasons.
2. Key ecosystems and habitats have been restored and made more ecologically resilient to climate change
3. The catchment’s land management reduces nutrient and sediment transport, minimises erosion and reduces flooding
4. People are able to swim and enjoy water-sports in Windermere, confident in the health and cleanliness of its water

Our Areas of Focus

1. Monitoring and reporting
• Sampling nutrient/pollution levels
• Monitoring ecosystem changes
2. Enabling local environmental solutions
• Grants for nature-based solutions
• Projects to rework local ecosystems
• Working with farmers to align to funding
3. Lobbying to raise public and private standards
• Better public sewage infrastructure and monitoring
• More effective private package plants
• Improving planning rules/statutory thresholds
4. Community Improvement
• Homeowner private sewage schemes
• Community campaigns for water usage and waste

What we are doing

​​Local environmental testing (1)
We have equipped a small team of local citizen scientist volunteers to test waters and survey the ecology of
the Rivers Rothay and Brathay, and waterways leading into them, and we highlight the concerns and issues that arise from our results to the responsible bodies for action (eg Environment Agency, United Utilities, local landowners). 
Environmental slow the flow solutions (2)
We are working with local farmers and landowners to improve the Rothay and Brathay’s response to heavy
rainfall, through a combination of physical and ecological measures.
Phosphorus Pricing (3)
We are lobbying to get Phosphorus Pricing adopted into law and implemented, to drive change in utility
behaviour leading to a reduction in both overflows and treated discharges, and to fully fund independent
monitoring and support catchment restoration.
Real-Time Monitoring (3)
We are lobbying to reform current measurement practices, asking for the implementation of precise monitoring of effluent at
sewage outfalls, both treated and untreated, to measure nutrient levels and sewage volume, with
data accessible in real-time via a public portal.
Permit Reviews (3)
We are lobbying for catchment-wide United Utilities permits to be updated so they are fit for the 21st Century and
align with the 1994 Urban Wastewater Directive, allowing Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) to
discharge only in exceptional circumstances.
Tighten Discharge Limits (3)
We are lobbying for phosphate, nitrate and ammonia discharge limits to be set at a protective level and for capped limits to be enforced, rather than compliance being assessed based on annual averages.
Greater Protection (3)
We are striving to achieve ‘High’ ecological status for Windermere under the Water Framework Directive
through the implementation of appropriate solutions, for example, the Complete Sewage Removal
of all United Utilities sewage inputs into Windermere and its catchment.
Private Treatment Work Reforms (4)
We intend to work with local communities to drive United Utilities to take ownership of the most significant septic
tanks and package treatment plants under Section 101a of the Water Industry Act 1991 and the
First Time Sewerage scheme.
Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (4)
We are intending to engage with United Utilities, and the local planning authorities to ensure that all new builds and significant extensions incorporate appropriate sustainable drainage solutions and environmentally-friendly sewage disposal into their designs.

AAFAF water group member collecting a water sample from the river Rothay in Ambleside.

Water Monitoring and Reporting

Windermere has been historically fed by low-nutrient mountain streams supporting a unique ecosystem, but is now threatened by human activities, with excessive nutrients (primarily phosphates) triggering algal blooms that multiply, die, sink and decay causing damaging lake-floor, low-oxygen conditions.
Read an excellent summary of the declining health of Windermere written by Stephen Trotter, CEO of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust, here.
Read a blogpost by Tim Boden, AAFAF water group lead on water monitoring, about the current threats to Windermere here.

During the summer of 2023 members of the AAFAF water group started weekly monitoring of the phosphate levels in the local rivers that feed into Windermere.
​In 2024 we expanded the number of points that we were testing and in addition to phosphate, we also tested for ammonia, nitrite and pH.

The dry summer of 2023 highlighted the distinctly seasonal pattern of phosphate pollution in Ambleside's rivers, showing peaks of phosphates when low rainfall coincided with periods of high tourist visitor numbers. During one of these periods, we estimated that nearly 40% of the flow of the river Rothay consisted of the final treated effluent that was being discharged from the United Utilities Ambleside wastewater treatment works. Due to the analysis of our results, we were able to challenge the Environment Agency and United Utilities on their reliance on the annualised figures that they use to prove that water companies are in compliance with their permits, and their reliance on figures that are annualised over three years that are supposed to prove the safety of Designated Bathing Water sites.
Take a look at a slide presentation of the 2023 season results here.
​Read the written report of the 2023 season results here.
Read a blogpost about the problematic way that the EA judges the cleanliness of designated bathing waters here.

The extremely wet summer of 2024 kept the volume of the rivers Rothay and Brathay at such a high level that it was hard to draw any conclusion about phosphate levels, but the shocking death of a toad during a spike in ammonia close to the final treated effluent pipe discharging into the Brathay downstream of Elterwater highlighted a huge concern about the dangers of ammonia, particularly where the pH of the water is above 7.
Read a blogpost about the link between the dead toad and the dangers of ammonia levels here.
Watch a presentation about the challenge of ammonia here. Could it explain the Cunsey Beck fish kill in June 2022?
(If you want to know further details of the Cunsey Beck fish kill read the WildFish analysis here.)

Watch a presentation about our 2024 water monitoring results here.

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Sampled invertebrates sorted by type.

Invertebrate Monitoring

Members of the water group participate in two invertebrate monitoring initiatives.
The Riverfly Partnership run by the Freshwater Biological Association and hosted by the South Cumbria Rivers Trust
and the SmartRivers scheme run by WildFish via the Windermere Hub hosted by Save Windermere. The 2023 SmartRivers invertebrate monitoring found a 64% reduction in vital keystone invertebrate species on the River Rothay below Ambleside's wastewater treatment works' storm overflow pipe. You can access the 2023 SmartRivers Windermere data report here.

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AAFAF water group member participating in the Big Windermere Survey, collecting water samples on Windermere.

Big Windermere Survey

​Members of the water group have participated in the Big Windermere Survey, run jointly by the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA) and Lancaster University, using volunteers to sample water from up to 110 sites throughout the Leven catchment on the same day in the same two-hour period.
Access all the results for the 2023 and 2024 season here.

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Septic Tanks and Off Grid Sewage Treatment

​​Septic tanks, cess pits, package treatment plants and 'permitted' discharges can all cause untreated or barely-treated sewage to flow into our water courses, tarns and lakes. Good installation and maintenance of these off-grid sewage solutions is essential to prevent pollution, pathogens and phosphate ending up in our water. We encourage all homeowners to become aware of their responsibility to the environment. Two sources of useful local advice about your septic systems are Call of Nature and Hutchinson Environmental Solutions whose technical manager, Paul Usher, is willing to come to speak to your group about correct installation and maintenance of off-mains wastewater treatment solutions.

But did you know that Section 101A of the Water Industry Act 1991 gives property owners the right to request a connection to the public sewer system if an existing private sewerage system, serving two or more premises or a locality, is causing or is likely to cause environmental or amenity issues?
This process requires the water company to assess options, and compare the costs and benefits of both public and private solutions, to identify the best approach. If the request is accepted, the water company has to pay for a brand new sewer to at least the curtilage of the properties requesting connection.

If you would like to know more about how to rid yourself of the expensive headache and stress of maintaining your off-grid treatment setup and get  your property connected to the public sewer system, the Save Windermere campaign has all the information that you need to do it here.

Paul Usher telling us everything we ever wanted to know (and some things we'd have rather not known) about septic tanks.

Phosphate Pricing as a Potential Water Industry Solution

Currently, water companies around the country pay a peppercorn charge for permits that allow them to discharge huge amounts of polluting phosphate and other chemicals (including ammonia) into our rivers, lakes and seas. If instead of this, they had to pay per kilo of phosphate they dumped into environment, it would force them to immediately start looking for ways to reduce their tonnage of phosphate and for better ways of treating our effluent to ensure it is as clean as is technically possible.
This 'polluter-pays' model of pricing is already applied to some of the carbon-emitting sectors and is a recognised model of dealing with industry. We are working with our local MP Tim Farron to bring this idea to the attention of the legislators and current government.
Listen to a presentation about how this model would work, here.
Read a blogpost about how this model would work, here.
Read a case study of how this model would work if applied to Thames Water, here.

Help! - I've spotted something wrong in my local water - what should I do?
​If you observe discolouration, odour, or other evidence of pollution in any water, including dead or dying wildlife, immediately report a water pollution incident to the Environment Agency on 0800 80 70 60 and ask them for an incident number.


You can report blue-green algal blooms using the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology’s Bloomin’ Algae app available from the App Store and Google Play. This is their only way of finding out about blue-green algae in our area, so please do it! The CEH then tells you to also report it to the Environment Agency (see above) and to your local authority's environmental health department. However Westmorland and Furness Council on this page tells you to report it to the Environment Agency and not to them!

In addition you can report to the 'Save Windermere' campaign any water pollution events, blue-green algae sightings, or record an episode of sickness if you or your pet have fallen ill or suffered from an infection after swimming in Windermere. 

You can also report concerns about polluting drains/pipes/outlets in the Ambleside area directly to the AAFAF water group by using the 'contact us' button and addressing your email to the water group coordinator.

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If you would like to join AAFAF and join the AAFAF water group, click on Join Us, or to contact us about anything else, click on Contact Us.

Registered Charity Number 1188921