Communities across the Lake District saw extended periods of sewage discharge into lakes and rivers after heavy rainfall and flooding this week.
The national Sewage Map, which provides live reports of sewage discharging across the UK, showed some locations in the Lake District had seen constant discharging for over 60 hours.
The prolonged periods were aggravated by bad weather hitting the area, with heavy rain and flooding causing storm overflows to spill raw sewage into lakes and tributaries across the region.
At the time of writing, the Sewage Map showed discharges for over 60 hours in Ambleside, Coniston, and at both ends of Esthwaite Water.
A United Utilities spokesperson said: “Due to the sustained heavy rain that we have seen over the last few days, a number of our storm overflows in Cumbria have been operating as designed to avoid the flooding of homes and businesses.
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“We are committed to driving down the number of times storm overflows operate. In 2024 we delivered a 31% reduction in spill duration, with the number of spills from storm overflows falling by 20%.
"To build on this, we are now embarking on the largest investment programme in a century that will see us transform the region’s sewer network.”
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