Realtime pollution alerts are needed across Windermere urgently, campaigners have said, as the mother of a seven-year-old boy who kayaked on the lake described how he nearly died after contracting a dangerous strain of E coli from contaminated water.
Claire Earley’s son Rex spent six weeks in hospital, and underwent two emergency operations, after a family kayaking trip on 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 that has damaged UK waterways as the result of a lack of investment and maintenance since the industry was privatised.
The family is supporting calls for realtime pollution alerts to be carried out across the lake, which welcomes seven million visitors a year and generates £750m for the local economy.
Earley said the experience had left her family traumatised.
“I noticed the water was murky,” Earley said. “But I had checked the Environment Agency website and it came up as excellent water quality on Windermere, so I was reassured.
“It is terrifying. We were doing something that any ordinary family does on holiday. People need to know what the dangers are. I cannot imagine when we are going to go back in water, and that is really hard because we are an outdoor family.”
Matt Staniek of the campaign group Save Windermere, which wants an end to all sewage discharges into the lake, said the human stories of sickness exposed how bathing water status for Windermere was not fit for purpose.
There are four bathing water areas on Windermere which are tested by the EA between May and September. But Staniek said people frequently use the water away from these spots, including the Earley family who were at a specialist kayaking centre at Brockhole visitor centre.
A few weeks before they used the lake, the Olympic marathon swimmer Hector Pardoe independently monitored water quality in real time while swimming across the lake. Independent laboratory analysis recorded E coli levels at 6,898 colony forming units per 100ml – more than eight times the threshold expected for an excellent bathing water classification.
“We are told Windermere’s water quality is ‘excellent’, but that label is dangerously misleading,” said Staniek. “People are ending up in hospital. Windermere receives no daily pollution forecasts under the Environment Agency’s national pollution risk forecasting system, which operates at some coastal sites.”
Staniek says he wants to see targeted, high-frequency sampling to underpin forecasting models away from the four bathing water sites as well as public signage and an accessible online portal providing real-time pollution information.
An early day motion submitted to parliament by the Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron endorses this call.
Earley, from Bradford, said: “That day lots of people were swimming and paddling in the lake where we were. It wasn’t at one of the four bathing water areas in the lake, but it was at a kayaking centre.”
The family went kayaking for about 45 minutes. That evening at their campsite Rex became very ill with stomach cramps and rectal bleeding.
The family packed up and rushed home, where he was admitted to hospital the next day. Lab tests returned positive for E coli – later confirmed as E coli 0157, a dangerous bacterial infection, which was acquired from contaminated water.
Three days later Rex was transferred to Leeds children’s hospital where he was diagnosed with haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a potentially life threatening condition usually arising from E coli infection.
He had an operation to prepare for kidney dialysis, which he was on for 10 days before being allowed home in mid-September. But shortly afterwards he suffered severe pain again, and was taken back to hospital, where doctors found his lung had collapsed, as a result of the HUS affecting his pancreas and sending fluid to his lungs.
“He is back to normal now,” said Earley. “He was so sick, he looked terrible, but he was a real trooper.”
Graham Jackson, 42, who lives in Cartmel, has swum in the lake all his life. But last June, after swimming with his children as they paddleboarded near Newby Bridge, Jackson also fell ill. He developed a urinary tract infection which escalated into life-threatening sepsis when antibiotics failed.
Hospital tests confirmed the infection was an E coli strain resistant to many common antibiotics. After 10 days on intravenous antibiotics, Jackson was discharged, but suddenly deteriorated again and suffered septic shock.
“My blood pressure completely dropped and paramedics took me into hospital again for another 10 days,” said Jackson. The consultant at Furness general hospital told Jackson he believed swimming in Windermere had caused the infection.
“I grew up round here, I spent my childhood swimming at Fell Foot. I just want my children to be able to do the same without getting ill,” Jackson said.
The source of sewage pollution in Windermere includes discharges from United Utilities treatment works and storm overflows, as well as 1,800 private septic tanks and private sewage treatment works.
United Utilities said storm overflows at Brockhole had not discharged for more than three weeks before 26 August 2025, when the Earley family went kayaking. The company said it had no assets within 5.7km (3.5 miles) of Newby Bridge.
A large engineering study taking place on Windermere, which is being funded by United Utilities and carried out by the engineering firm Jacobs, is examining ways to eliminate all sewage pollution from the world heritage lake. It is due to report in July. Staniek said the government should implement the study as soon as it is completed.
The EA said in a statement: “All four designated bathing waters in Windermere have been consistently rated as excellent since 2015 under strict, legally defined monitoring and data analysis standards that we must adhere to. We are continuing our extensive monitoring programme in Windermere, including testing for bacteria that can [affect] human health on a weekly basis throughout the bathing water season.”
A spokesperson for United Utilities said: “Windermere is incredibly special to so many of us, and it’s upsetting to hear that anyone may have become unwell after visiting the lake. Our thoughts are with those affected. Although we haven’t been contacted by individuals or by health authorities, we take concerns like this very seriously.”
The company said it was delivering the largest investment in wastewater infrastructure around the lake for more than a century, spending £200m in the next four years to reduce spills from storm overflows and improve wastewater treatment from its sites.