Steve Coogan protests against water firm behind 27k hours of sewage spills since 2020
Steve Coogan has joined demonstrators at a protest calling for United Utilities to clean up Lake Windermere after the water firm dumped untreated sewage in the lake’s catchment area.
The comedian took part in a protest at England’s largest lake on Sunday and outside United Utilities’ offices on Monday.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain (GMB), Coogan said: “United Utilities have a big PR machine… and say we’re working together with the people of Windermere but it’s all a smoke screen to distract attention from what they’ve been doing over the last 30 years, which is putting treated and untreated sewage into Lake Windermere to such an extent that there are toxic levels of algae there. There are algae blooms and some that show the nitrate levels are through the roof.”
According to Environment Agency data, United Utilities has dumped 27,000 hours of worth of untreated sewage that has made its way into Lake Windermere since 2020.
Coogan said the water firm was both legally and “illegally” dumping sewage into the lake.
“We’re calling on them to stop putting sewage in the lake and take out what they’ve put in,” he said.
The actor criticised the firms payouts to shareholders and any moves that would see customers foot the bill for the clean up operation.
He said: “They shouldn’t be allowed to do that. They should take the money from the huge profits they’ve made and just deny their shareholders a dividend for a couple of years.”
Coogan called for the Government to act and put forward concrete proposals that would see the lake cleaned up.
“It needs to be dealt with once and for all,” he said.
United Utilities is the most polluting water company according to Environment Agency figures that revealed sewage was poured into England’s rivers for a total of 3.6m hours last year.
The firm recorded the highest number of sewage spills per “storm overflow”, with 45.4 discharges per outflow, releasing waste for more than 650,000 hours in 2023.
Asked about Environment Agency data that shows United Utilities has dumped more than 27,000 hours worth of untreated sewage that has found its way into Lake Windermere since 2020, Chris Matthews, from United Utilities, told GMB the company shares the concerns expressed by Coogan.
He added: “We’re already investing to tackle this problem. We’ve spent £75m on our wastewater treatment to halve the amount of phosphorus that goes into the lake. The four bathing waters at Windermere all have an excellent status.”
Mr Matthews said United Utilities will be investing a further £41m “to reduce overflow operation by half”.
“We are taking this problem extremely seriously,” he said.
Mr Matthews added that customer bills will be increasing to help fund the programme, saying: “It’s going to be about £25 a year that bills will go up, about £2 a month, to help fund what is a £14 billion plan.”
