Realtime pollution alerts needed on Windermere, campaigners say after boy nearly dies
Exclusive: Claire Earley’s son Rex spent six weeks in hospital after contracting E coli from contaminated lake
TL;DR
- A seven-year-old boy, Rex Earley, contracted a dangerous strain of E. coli from Windermere lake water, leading to a six-week hospital stay and two emergency operations.
- Campaigners are demanding real-time pollution alerts for Windermere, arguing that current 'excellent' water quality ratings are misleading and inadequate.
- Official monitoring of Windermere focuses on four designated bathing areas, but the Earley family's incident occurred away from these sites.
- Independent monitoring has previously recorded E. coli levels significantly above the threshold for excellent bathing water classification.
- Sources of pollution in Windermere include sewage discharges from treatment works, storm overflows, and private septic tanks.
- United Utilities is investing £200m over four years to improve wastewater infrastructure around the lake, and an engineering study on eliminating sewage pollution is due to report in July.