Learning for Lakes: Conservation and Wetlands Case Study

Title: The Loweswater Care Programme

Location: Lake District, NW England, United Kingdom

Period: October 2012 to March 2015

Organisations: Local Community, National Trust, West Cumbria Rivers Trust

Budget: Unknown

Location and Background Loweswater is a moderate to small lake in the north-west of the English Lake District that drains into Crummock Water and is owned by the National Trust. It is amongst the smallest lakes in the Lake District, being 1.6 km in length and 0.5 km wide and averaging 8m in depth. It has a relatively long retention time for a lake of its size, approximately 200 days, and shows clear signs of nutrient enrichment with significant toxic algal blooms occurring throughout the year. The lake‟s catchment area (800 hectares) is predominantly agricultural with some woodland and open fell, which is grazed mainly by sheep with smaller numbers of cattle. The community population is very small.

The local community has taken a great deal of interest in the problems of the lake and through a series of successive projects, which have had national recognition, has now embarked on a major project to undertake a series of practical works to improve the water quality of the lake. The project is called the Loweswater Care Programme.

The Issue This project is just the latest in a series of projects stretching back to the late 1990s. Over the last 12 years or so there has been a continuous stream of studies into the lake‟s chemistry and biology, centering on the issue of algal growth and its consequences. The community group leading the project is being supported by the West Cumbria Rivers Trust (WCRT), an environmental charity, which now provides a natural “home” for further work on the lake. www.westcumbriariverstrust.org

The lake itself has a history of increasing levels of algae (including potentially-toxic blue-green species), which result in the occasional formation of unsightly and potentially hazardous algal blooms. This increased algal growth is due to nutrient enrichment (mainly phosphates), which originates from farming practices and discharges from septic tanks. This decline in water quality has coincided with a deterioration of the fish community, Loweswater having once been a fine trout fishery. The results of water quality monitoring on the lake, through a 5-yearly scientific analysis, show a slight improvement recently, but the lake‟s trophic status is still poor. Under the OECD system it is classified as close to the mesotrophic-eutrophic boundary and is classified as moderate for total phosphorous and phytoplankton and poor for dissolved oxygen under the EU Water Framework Directive. Because of the above technical issues, the lake is not scheduled to achieve “good ecological status” under the Water Framework Directive until 2027, whereas the normal date for water bodies to achieve this is 2015. Before it became part of the WCRT, the LCP applied for government funding under the DEFRA Catchment Restoration Fund (CRF) to investigate ways of expediting the lake‟s improvement in water quality.

Organisations Involved Most of the project grant will be for work carried out by various contractors plus the purchase of equipment. However, there will be a considerable amount of work involved in managing the various elements of the work programme and disseminating information on progress. A Project Officer has been appointed to oversee this work. There will be a good deal of volunteer input from WCRT Trustees and local residents, plus stakeholder organisations which continues the strong collaborative ethic established in the former Loweswater Care Project run by Lancaster University with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

Actions Taken The project has three principal strands of work: 1. Prevention at source; through reducing phosphorous inputs to Loweswater through improved farming and land management practices, including the restoration of certain man-made features (e.g. valley mires) to enhance the capture and retention of sediment-bound phosphorous from streams and obtaining a better understanding of phosphorous contributions from waterfowl.

2. Reduce algal populations; particularly of cyanobacteria by the installation of floating ultrasonic generators in the lake. Cyanobacteria, more so than green algae, are sensitive to certain ultrasound frequencies, which cause the living cells to implode and die. This technique is complimentary to those above as its efficacy is not dependent on the source of phosphorous nutrients] and the installation of „floating mixers‟ in the lake which will stop stratification of the lake during summer months and, on the premise that the sediments are a significant source of phosphorous compounds, thereby prevent the occurrence of conditions at the bottom of the lake that allow phosphorous compounds to be recycled.

3. A monitoring programme; this will provide continued tracking of the lake quality against historic trends and allow the impact of the above measures to be accurately gauged.

Results and Benefits It is too early to see the results of the project in practical terms, however there is a strong history of community engagement with the Loweswater project and this will continue to be maintained through, for example, community meetings and regular project updates, engagement with farmers/landowners, volunteer activities such as the algal bloom monitoring and engagement with local schools. Progress will be updated regularly onto the website www.westcumbriariverstrust.org/loweswater

Lessons Learnt Again there are yet to be lessons learnt from the practical outcomes of this project however the importance and value of community input and support should not be underestimated. The drive of committed individuals can often be difference between action and inaction, and with support and enthusiasm the lake will be protected.

Credits Lois Mansfield (University of Cumbria), John Malley (National Trust), Amanda Hancock (Environment Agency), Vikki Salas (West Cumbria Rivers Trust)

References http://www.westcumbriariverstrust.org/loweswater/