Hotspots of bacteria and phosphorus at England's most famous lake must be addressed urgently, the authors of a study into its water quality warned on Tuesday.

Volunteers collected 1,020 samples from Windermere in the Lake District National Park in northwest England between June 2022 and November 2024.

The Big Windermere Survey released its summary report on Tuesday, finding "poor" standards of bathing water quality in some parts of the lake owing to "hotspots" of illness-causing bacteria like E.coli and intestinal enterococci.

The problem was particularly acute during the summer, when thousands of visitors swim and play watersports in the lake.

The Freshwater Biological Association, which carried out the study with Lancaster University, said hotspots "must be addressed urgently" by tho

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