Lake bathing water quality rated ‘excellent’ for fifth year running

Water quality at every designated bathing water location in South Lakeland has been rated ‘excellent’ by government inspectors for the fifth consecutive year.

Officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have notified South Lakeland District Council (SLDC) that all four sites on the lake at Windermere have received the top rating for the coming 2019 bathing season.

The bathing waters at Lakeside YMCA, Millerground Landing, Rayrigg Meadow and Fell Foot were subject to checks by the Environment Agency. Classifications are ‘poor’, ‘sufficient’, ‘good’ and ‘excellent’.

SLDC owns the bed of Windermere and also operates the Lake Warden service. The wardens look after the lake and its visitors, operating a patrol and rescue service and also monitoring and reporting any issues with pollutants, contaminates or problems with invasive algae that may affect water quality.

As the local authority SLDC is also responsible for providing public information about bathing water quality at all bathing waters in its area.

Simon Rowley, SLDC’s Assistant Director of Neighbourhood Services, said: “This is great news.

“The water quality at these four sites has now been rated as excellent for the past five years.

“Windermere is a wonderful natural asset for this area and the many thousands of people that visit the lake every year can be reassured that the water quality at these four designated bathing sites have all been classified as first rate.’’