Water

Discover more

Home Protect Nature Water

Water forms a key part of the Lake District’s landscape

Our lakes, tarns, rivers and becks (streams) are one of the Lake District’s special qualities.

Header image credit: MBlenkey

The Lake District’s 16 lakes cover 3 per cent of the National Park area, and there are over 11,000km of becks and rivers that flow through the Park.
The Lake District’s waterbodies face many pressures due to current and historic human activity. Climate change is making these challenges worse by increasing the risk of issues such as flooding, drought, reduced river flows and algal blooms, while also raising the future demand for water.
These combined pressures threaten freshwater habitats and the species that depend on them, risking further damage to the natural environment.
To protect these vital ecosystems everyone needs to work together to take action and ensure there is sustainable, integrated water management across our protected landscape.

Challenges and solutions

CaBA partnerships

The Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) is a river catchment level initiative that brings together civil society with Government, Local Authorities, Water Companies, businesses and more, to maximise the natural value of our environment. There are 3 CaBA Partnerships operating within the Lake District for each of the major river catchments which are run by the local Rivers Trusts.

West Cumbria Catchment Partnership

South Cumbria Catchment Partnership – Becks to Bay

Eden Catchment Partnership – Eden Rivers Trust

Water company

United Utilities are responsible for managing water infrastructure, including the reservoirs, across the North West. They also own many of the catchment areas that are used for drinking water, and work with farmers on this land to ensure water quality. United Utilities are a partner in the Lake District national Park Partnership.

Find out more information about United Utilities on their website.

Love Windermere

The Love Windermere Partnership brings together a diverse range of organisations from the public, private, and third sectors, all committed to improving and protecting Windermere’s water quality. We lead the Land Management workstream which is working to improve our collective understanding of diffuse pollution and help develop a suite of interventions that will reduce catchment run-off from rural and urban land.

Find out more information on the Love Windermere website.