CONTENTS

• The water cycle
• Weather recording
• Water for export!
• Down the drain!
• Water quality
• Cumbrian fish
• Cumbrian spring water
• Getting Around
• Credits

Water is essential to life. We need safe and regular supplies of fresh drinking water and we rely on water to grow crops for food. Yet, less than 1% of all the water on earth is accessible as fresh drinking water. In global terms, water is a precious commodity.

For many, Cumbria is synonymous with water. Water and ice have moulded the landscape creating its myriad lakes, rivers and waterfalls, and prodigious amounts fall as precipitation - to the dismay of many visitors!

Water has influenced Cumbria's agricultural and industrial processes and even our leisure pursuits. Sheep are better adapted to coping with waterlogged soils and frequent rainfall and have become the mainstay of Cumbrian farming systems. Mills once harnessed running water to provide power for machinery. And tourism - one of the main income generators in Cumbria - is heavily dependent on water: the numerous lakes, rivers and waterfalls being a magnet for visitors every year.

THE WATER CYCLE

The combination of mountains and lakes in Cumbria provides the ideal conditions for the production and storage of large amounts of pure, soft water. Westerly winds bringing in moisture-laden clouds from the Atlantic are forced to rise over the mountains. This causes them to cool, and the moisture condenses and falls as rain. The rain collects in streams and rivers and is ultimately disgorged into the lakes or the sea. Evaporation returns water to the atmosphere, creating a continuous water cycle.

However, heavy rainfall and rapid run-off can quickly swell rivers and lakes beyond their normal capacity resulting in flooding that is often highly localised. In June 1686, torrential flooding in Hawkshead caused flooding 'the like of it was never seen in these parts by noe man liveinge, for it did throwe downe some houses and mills and tooke away several briggs … the water wash't upp great trees, stocks, and greate stones a greate way off and lay'd them on men's ground.'

In August 1966, exceptionally heavy rainfall fell in upper Borrowdale with devastating effects. Swollen streams brought down huge boulders, damaging walls and bridges. The water flooded homes in Seatoller, Seathwaite and Rosthwaite and swept away cars. The clean-up had barely started when a second deluge occurred three weeks later.

In 1968 the Eden washed away the sandstone bridge at Langwathby. More recently, the floods of January 2005 wreaked havoc in residential areas of Carlisle, Keswick and Cockermouth and caused extensive flooding throughout Cumbria.

In contrast to heavy rainfall, periods of drought can reveal areas that are usually submerged. During the drought years of 1984 and 1996 the drowned village of Mardale emerged from the shrinking waters of Haweswater reservoir.

WEATHER RECORDING

In 1844 John Miller of Whitehaven established a 'water station' at Seathwaite to carry out regular readings of the rainfall. He later set up other gauges further up the valley and one near the summit of Scafell Pike. These showed that the amount of rainfall increased with altitude.

The central fells have 225 'rain days' on average, totalling around 2500 mm (100 inches) of rainfall per year. Away from the central mountains, the rainfall drops off rapidly with most of the coastal fringe having less than 1000 mm (40 inches) per year. The Eden Valley, lying in the rain shadow, normally receives about 890 mm (35 inches) per year.

There are a number of weather stations throughout Cumbria that record rainfall, temperature, wind speed and cloud cover on a daily basis. Figures over the last 100 years point towards increasing rainfall in Cumbria.

The small hamlet of Seathwaite in Borrowdale holds the distinction of being the wettest inhabited place in England with a mean annual rainfall of over 3 metres (120 inches)!

Average rainfall totals in Seathwaite, Keswick and Sellafield

WATER FOR EXPORT!

In the late 19th century, the need for clean water (for industry and through improved standards of hygiene and sanitation) created unprecedented demand from the industrial towns of Lancashire. Manchester Corporation sought to solve the problem by finding new sites for reservoirs outside the confines of the city. Two valleys in the Lake District - Thirlmere and Haweswater - were identified as suitable for reservoirs, having solid bedrock onto which to build the dam and impervious rock strata to hold the water.

In 1879 the Corporation received Royal Assent to build a dam at Thirlmere. Work proceeded soon after with the building of a masonry dam (the first in England) to create a reservoir connected by a 96 mile (155 km) long aqueduct to Manchester. The aqueduct was officially opened on 12 October 1894. The following day a fountain in Albert Square (Manchester) gushed Thirlmere water into the air to the delight of the crowds, many of whom had brought cups to sample their first drink of Lakeland water. To this day, the Thirlmere aqueduct delivers around 50 million gallons of water a day to the city.

In 1919 the Corporation successfully applied for permission to flood the Haweswater valley, including the small village of Mardale. Over the next decade, surveys were undertaken, and land and buildings compulsorily purchased. The workforce was recruited from all over the north-west and to accommodate them the Corporation built the model village of Burnbanks near the site of the dam.

Work on the dam started in the 1930s and was completed in 1940. The dam is the highest in Britain at 30 metres (96 ft) and is a rare example of a hollow buttress concrete dam. The reservoir waters rose over the next two years, gradually submerging the village of Mardale with its church and inn. The level of the lake was raised by 30 metres and its capacity increased to 85 million cubic metres or the equivalent of nearly 38,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools! Every day, around 300,000 cubic metres (66,000,000 gallons) of water are discharged to Manchester via an underground pipe. The water flows by gravity for nearly 100 miles, descending at a rate of 30 cm per km (7 inches per mile) during its two-day journey.

Reservoir levels are regulated by allowing water abstractions from other lakes. Windermere and Ullswater support storage levels in Thirlmere and Haweswater reservoirs during times of drought. The capacity of Haweswater was enhanced by the completion of a new reservoir at Wet Sleddale in 1967.

The urban and industrial areas surrounding the central Cumbrian fells have also exploited the local water resources: Workington takes its water from Crummock, Whitehaven from Ennerdale, and water from Wastwater is used to cool the nuclear reactors at Sellafield.

This network of reservoirs, pumping stations and underground pipes are part of an integrated water management system to ensure that adequate supplies of water are delivered to the thirsty urban areas of Manchester, Cumbria and Lancashire.

United Utilities is now responsible for the collection, storage, purification and supply of clean, safe drinking water throughout the region. The company owns much water catchment land in the Cumbria Fells and Dales, and works with various organisations to improve public access and make environmental improvements. They are also responsible for the treatment of waste water and returning it to our rivers and the sea in a clean form.

DOWN THE DRAIN!

Waste water is continually being flushed away through underground sewer pipes. This waste has to be treated before it can be returned to rivers or the sea in a clean form. The process of cleaning up waste water goes through the following stages:

1. First, the effluent is screened to remove paper, leaves and other large objects.

2. The water then passes into large sedimentation tanks where solid particles and organic matter settle on the bottom, forming sludge (after further treatment, the sludge can be used as a fertiliser or fuel to generate electricity).

3. From the sedimentation tanks the water is passed through filtration beds, where micro-organisms feed on the remaining organic material converting it to carbon dioxide, water and nitrogen compounds.

4. The cleaned water is then returned to a river or the sea.

Samples of water are analysed throughout the treatment to ensure stringent safety standards are met. In the UK, around 83% of our water is treated, compared with only 51% in Europe as a whole. Globally, around a third of the world's population do not have access to even basic sewerage treatment, leaving them vulnerable to water-borne diseases such as cholera and dysentery.

WATER QUALITY

Streams, rivers and lakes gather pollution as run-off from agricultural, domestic and industrial sources. Nitrates and phosphates (from fertilisers and organic matter) cause enrichment of inland waters leading to algal blooms and deoxygenation of the water that can severely affect fish and invertebrate life. Pesticides, particularly from sheep dip, are highly toxic to aquatic life. Sediment deposition can quickly silt up lakes and affect fish spawning grounds. Furthermore, the plethora of hotels, guest houses and private dwellings along lake shores collectively contribute to the levels of phosphates (derived from sewage) finding their way into water courses.

Loweswater Project

Over recent years Loweswater has suffered from algal blooms caused by modern farming and tourism practices. However, local farmers and the wider community are collaboratively looking at ways to reduce the amount of effluent being discharged into the lake from septic tanks and agricultural run-off. Their overall aim is to enhance the environment, improve the lake's waters, restore healthier soils and encourage 'greener' attitudes to land and tourism management. The lake will be periodically sampled to evaluate the effects of these new management techniques on water quality and fish stocks. For more information on this scheme, contact Danny Leck on 01946 861465.

Bassenthwaite Lake Restoration Programme

Bassenthwaite Lake is a National Nature Reserve because of its wildlife interest, but this diversity is being threatened because of increasing levels of pollution (particularly from phosphates) and sedimentation. The restoration programme is a multi-agency approach that is targeting the whole of the Bassenthwaite catchment area, and aims to mitigate the pollution effects by reducing fertiliser run-off from the land, improving septic tank discharges, reducing grazing pressure, planting broadleaved trees and involving the whole community. For more information on the scheme, contact John Pinder at the Environment Agency on 01768 215731. The Lake District Tourism & Conservation Partnership (tel: 015394 34630; www.lakespartnership.co.uk) offers advice to tourism businesses on how to minimise the risk of pollution getting into the lake.

Eden Rivers Trust

The Trust was set up in 1996 to conserve, protect and improve the River Eden and its catchment. Surveys have been undertaken and much work has gone into restoring riverine habitats, banksides and adjacent wetlands and water meadows; protecting fish stocks; reducing pollution; resisting water abstraction; working with farmers to improve stock management; improving access points; and raising local awareness of the importance of maintaining the health of the river Eden and its tributaries.
For more information, contact the Eden Rivers Trust on 01768 353992
or www.edenriverstrust.org.uk.

CUMBRIAN FISH

Cumbria's lakes harbour many species of fish; some of which are 'glacial relics' from the last Ice Age, including the Arctic char, schelly and vendace. These species are currently under threat because of higher water temperatures, decreasing water quality, silting up of spawning grounds and competition from other species.

The Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus) favours the deeper lakes and is found in Wastwater, Coniston Water, Ennerdale Water, Buttermere, Crummock Water, Thirlmere and Haweswater.

Schelly (Coregonus lavaretus) were once commercially fished from Ullswater and sold at Pooley Bridge fish market. The fish is currently found in Ullswater, Brotherswater, Haweswater and Red Tarn on Helvellyn.

The Vendace (Coregonus albula) is an endangered species that is found only in Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake. The fish needs clean gravel to lay its eggs on, but its traditional spawning grounds in Bassenthwaite Lake are gradually silting up. Eggs from the vendace have recently been taken to Sprinkling Tarn (Borrowdale) to create new populations.

Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) and Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) are found in clean waters with suitable spawning grounds throughout Cumbria. However, there has been a decline in the numbers of salmon migrating upstream. The Environment Agency, Eden Rivers Trust, United Utilities and others have instigated schemes to help migrating fish, such as the installation of 'ladders' (stepped pools) to enable fish to bypass any obstacles and the insertion of an 'acoustic barrier' at Heltondale Beck (near Penrith) to warn fish away from the water abstraction point.

CUMBRIAN SPRING WATER

As well as the quality water that emerges from our taps, Cumbria has three water bottling companies that take their water from underground sources.

Lakeland Spring Water is collected at Standing Stones, high above Ennerdale Water and bottled at Hensingham, near Whitehaven
(www.lakeland-spring.com).

Lakeland Willow Water contains traces of salicin, a natural analgesic derived from white willow bark. The original spring was known for its therapeutic powers and a holy well was built on the site by the monks of Cartmel Priory. Today, water from the same source is pumped from an underground aquifer and bottled nearby. Tours of the bottling plant can be made by arrangement.
Contact 015395 59452 or www.willowwater.com.

The Eden Valley Mineral Water Company takes around 250 million litres of spring water per year from 5 boreholes near Armathwaite, for retail under the Aqua Pura brand. www.princes.co.uk/brands/aquapura

GETTING AROUND

For details on public transport, please contact Traveline on 08700 608 2608.
Email: info@traveline-cumbria.co.uk.
Website: www.traveline.org.uk.

CREDITS

Produced by Anna Grayat Voluntary Action Cumbria for LEADER+
(Cumbria Fells & Dales)
Concept design: copyright Andrew Lathwell Design Ltd
Illustration by Juliet Whitworth
Printed by Reeds of Penrith, 2006.
Front cover photographs by Anna Gray and Val Corbett.
Other photographs supplied by Val Corbett, Richard Spiers, Peter Pedley Postcards, LDNPA, Met Office, United Utilities, Environment Agency, Kingfisher Publications, Honister Yew Tree, Princes Soft Drinks and Anna Gray.

LEADER+ (Cumbria Fells & Dales)
The Old Stables,
Redhills,
Penrith,
Cumbria,
CA11 0DT

Tel: 01768 869533
Email: info@fellsanddales.org.uk
Website: www.fellsanddales.org.uk

Fells and Dales LEADER+ Programme is based at Voluntary Action Cumbria, a company limited by guarantee, Charity No. 1080875, Companyh No. 3957858.

This is one of a series of themed trails being produced by LEADER+ (Cumbria Fells & Dales) to promote the area and its local products.

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the content of this trail is accurate and up to date at the time of writing, no liability can be accepted for any errors, omissions or misrepresentations of fact contained herein.

This project is being part financed by the European Agriculture Guidance adn Guarantee Fund of the European Union and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs through the Cumbria Fells and Dales LEADER+ Programme.

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