The latest film from the Save Windermere campaign sees the continuation of the upstream battle to rid England’s largest lake from the sewage that’s killing it. Previously, we’ve followed local zoologist Matt Staniek kayak from the top end of the river catchment down into Windermere. On this more recent adventure with purpose, we follow Matt as he walks back up into the fells to hunt for the source of Windermere, drawing attention to the stark contrast between the difference in water health up high above the reach of waste.
Main image: Matt Staniek hunts for the origin of Windermere | Credit: Save Windermere
The Save Windermere campaign has gone national with huge marches on parliament. Indeed, the efforts have reached me in the Peak District. Yet, I was shocked to see Windermere’s flourescent green waters during algal bloom, captured in aerial footage that must be seen to be believed.
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It doesn’t take a scientist to see this is an environmental disaster happening right before our eyes. And it only takes this fast-paced but profound film 12 minutes to explain why that matters.
In Origin: Finding the Source of Windermere, we begin the journey at the lakeshore. Just 100 metres from Windermere and Matt spots rocks in the river covered in slime. Continuing the walk out of Ambleside, Matt points out a number of large, grotty pipes from which sewage is pumped into the river from Ambleside Sewage Works – owned and operated by United Utilities.
He explains that it is currently legal for United to pump 1.8 million litres of treated sewage into the river every day. We learn that both treated and untreated sewage contains a key food source for algae sucks oxygen out of the lake when it dies. If algal blooms are big enough they can destabilise the entire ecosystem and cause mass fish kills. Footage of the Cunsey Beck fish kill of 2022 provides damning evidence of the devastation.
Matt presents clearly and with the unwavering passion of someone who’s spent four years tirelessly fighting to save Windermere. His hope is infectious. As he bounds through the landscape, geography enthusiasts will enjoy this intriguing exercise in traversing our landscapes by instinct, noticing our environments and exploring by reading natural cues.
The film doesn’t display a whiff of misanthropy. I found this refreshing when many of the divisive narratives you may see on social media disproportionately blame individuals for harm done to nature.
When Matt reaches Buckstones Jump – a popular swimming spot – he delights in visiting this natural beauty spot to find its waters crystal clear and healthy enough to drink. His focus is on the bigger problems downstream caused by institutional destruction.
Origin provides solutions. Lake Annecy is offered up as a case study of how simply we can turn the fate of Windermere around. In the 1970s, it was one of Frances’ most polluted lakes. Since ceasing all sewage discharge into it, Lake Annecy is deemed the cleanest in Europe. Idyllic footage shows the body of water as a haven for wildlife where people can respectfully swim and paddle in harmony with our natural neighbours.
The film has a nuanced approach to agricultural concerns, too. We meet a troubled-looking Chris Hodgson, who farms at Rydal, a site of low intensity cattle and sheep grazing. In honest interviews, Chris recalls catching bullheads and catfish here as a kid – but says he just doesn’t see these species thriving anymore in these waters.
Origin documents how Chris’ efforts to rehabilitate the land by installing deerproof fencing have already paid off in just three years. The wildflower meadows have flourished and will give way to woodland in the future. If this is what Chris can achieve on land to preserve something for future generations when he’ll be “dead and gone”, as he puts it, Origin helps us imagine what we can all do together to protect the life-giving waters that run through it.
Waters have carved out the landscape of the Lake District, giving many of us a playground rivalling mountain regions around the world. Culminating in a powerful call to arms, the new film from the Save Windermere campaign is essential watching for anyone who has ever visited Lakeland and marvelled in its beauty.
Learn more from the Save Windermere campaign.
