If you observe discolouration, odour, blue-green algae, or other evidence of pollution in any water, including dead or dying fish, 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 for further monitoring by using this form.
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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.

'By 2050, we hope that 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.'

See our full vision statement and strategy document here.


So what's the problem?

Tim Boden - our lead in water monitoring - has written a series of insightful articles in his
'Windermere Tales' blog exploring the issues from different angles.

Stephen Trotter - CEO of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust - has written this clear summary of the declining health of Windermere

The SmartRivers invertebrate monitoring project has just published their 2023 annual results which found a 64% reduction in our vital keystone invertebrate species on the River Rothay below Ambleside's wastewater treatment works' storm overflow pipe.

The Freshwater Biological Association's Big Windermere Survey results for 13th Aug 2023 
found that only 3% of samples collected from the lake’s shoreline contained sufficiently low concentrations of phosphorus to meet standards for ‘High’ or ‘Good’ status under UK legislation, and a third of sites contained high concentrations of E.coli or intestinal enterococci bacteria.
Survey results for 26th Nov 2023 found that only 19% of lake shoreline samples were consistent with phosphorus standards for 'Good' status and none with those for High status. 5% rated as 'Poor' and 3% as 'Bad'. Across all 107 locations sampled, 9% had elevated concentrations of E. coli or intestinal enterococci, sufficient to move these sites below the standards required for 'Good' bathing water quality.
Survey results for 18th February 2024 showed that 69% of lake shoreline locations had high enough phosphorus levels to put them into the 'moderate' or 'poor' category, 15% of river sites tested and 7% of lake shoreline sites had elevated levels of intestinal enterococci and E. coli rendering them 'less than good' for bathing, and the average nitrate concentration was among the highest seen to date.



What are the AAFAF water group doing about it?
Phosphate Monitoring

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. Understanding more about the challenges involved is the aim of this citizen science project, undertaken by a team from Ambleside Action for a Future and following a long-established phosphate monitoring methodology used by Wye Valley citizen science teams.
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AAFAF water group member collecting water from the Rothay close to a drain issuing suspect cloudy water in order to test it for phosphates.
PictureExamples of invertebrates to be found in our rivers.

Invertebrate Monitoring

Members of the 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.
       Access the latest SmartRivers Windermere data report here.
PictureAAFAF water group member participating in the Big Windermere Survey, collecting water samples on Windermere.
Big Windermere Survey

​Members of the group participate in the Big Windermere Survey, run jointly by the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA) and Lancaster University, which samples water from up to 110 sites throughout the Leven catchment on the same day in the same two-hour period.
Survey results for 13th Aug 2023 found that only 3% of samples collected from the lake’s shoreline contained sufficiently low concentrations of phosphorus to meet standards for ‘High’ or ‘Good’ status under UK legislation, and a third of sites contained high concentrations of E.coli or intestinal enterococci bacteria.
​Survey results for 26th Nov 2023 found that only 19% of lake shoreline samples were consistent with phosphorus standards for 'Good' status and none with those for High status. 5% rated as 'Poor' and 3% as 'Bad'. Across all 107 locations sampled, 9% had elevated concentrations of E. coli or intestinal enterococci, sufficient to move these sites below the standards required for 'Good' bathing water quality.
Survey results for 18th February 2024 showed that 69% of lake shoreline locations had high enough phosphorus levels to put them into the 'moderate' or 'poor' category, 15% of river sites tested and 7% of lake shoreline sites had elevated levels of intestinal enterococci and E. coli rendering them 'less than good' for bathing, and the average nitrate concentration was among the highest seen to date.
Working with Others

Members of the group have been consulting, liaising, and working with many local and national organisations to ensure that the health of our water stays high on the agenda and that measures are taken to improve the situation in our catchment.
​For a full list of the groups we have been involved with at some level click here.
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The 4 'R's - Rewetting, reforesting, remeandering, regenerative farming
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Members of the group have been working with the South Cumbria Rivers Trust (SCRT) to assess the potential for restoring the natural courses of our local rivers, ghylls and becks by remeandering parts that have been artificially straightened.
Following requests for submissions of ideas for dissertations from Cumbria and Lancaster Universities, we have put forward topics in connection with assessing the potential for the 4 'R's in our area.
The AAFAF Growing and Biodiversity group are doing an admirable job of planting trees in riparian zones, and reforesting the sides of the fells in our area.
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AAFAF visit to see the remeandered Swindale Beck
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.
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Paul Usher telling us everything we ever wanted to know (and some things we'd have rather not known) about septic tanks.
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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 fish, immediately report a water pollution incident to the Environment Agency on 0800 80 70 60 and ask them for an incident number.

You can also report concerns about polluting drains/pipes/outlets in the Ambleside area directly to the AAFAF water group for further monitoring by using this form.

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. 
If you would like to join AAFAF, join the AAFAF water group, or contact us about anything click on Contact Us.
Registered Charity Number 1188921