10 November, 2023

Water quality sensors that help chart water quality in real time have been installed along one of the water bodies that flows into Windermere.

The devices, called ‘sondes’ will help to identify factors that can affect water quality to allow further action to take place.

The Graythwaite Estate is working with United Utilities, a member of the Love Windermere partnership, to host the sensors along the shore of Esthwaite Water and Cunsey Beck.

Ed Sandys, from the Graythwaite Estate, said: “We are delighted to host United Utilities on Esthwaite Water and the Cunsey Beck for the purposes of monitoring and recording data. We all have a responsibility to clean up our rivers and lakes and this is a positive step in the right direction.”

Sion Platts-Kilburn, Catchment Manager at United Utilities, said: “There are a range of factors that can affect water quality, including wastewater and land run-off, and these new devices will give us a level of insight that we’ve never had before.  Only by working together can we build up a picture of what’s going on along the entire lake and river, so we are really pleased to be working with the Graythwaite Estate team. We are looking forward to sharing the data more broadly.”

The new sondes, installed by RS Hydro, will be able to measure the water for a number of different factors, all at the same time.  These include organic material, bacteria, ammonia, nutrients such as phosphorus, water temperature and levels of oxygen.  These parameters together give a good indication of the health of a lake or river at a given time.

The trial has seen four of the devices installed – one at each end of Esthwaite and two along Cunsey Beck.

The Love Windermere partnership has been carrying out a range of data-gathering research, including the Big Windermere Survey, a 100-strong, year-long citizen science project aimed at studying the entire Windermere catchment.