New Crowd Funder Launched: Swim Free From Fear Project
SUPPORT OUR NEW CROWD FUNDER · SWIM FREE FROM FEAR PROJECT
On the 13th of August 2022, the entire North Basin of Windermere lake turned bright green. It could be seen from space.
This happened because phosphorus levels in the lake have become unsustainably high. The single largest input of phosphorous into Windermere, England’s largest lake, is sewage discharged by the water company, United Utilities.
Phosphorus acts as fertiliser for blue green algae (Cyanobacteria) which has the potential to produce toxins that can endanger you, your pets and the wildlife that call Windermere home. Cyanobacterial blooms can also kill you if enough is ingested. High levels of phosphorus in the lake are leading to a rapid increase in these potentially toxic algal blooms.
Increasingly, people are turning to wild swimming as a way to de-stress and improve their overall health. Windermere should be the perfect place for a dip, but as we see the number of blooms increasing, along with more people swimming in the lake, the risk of someone becoming seriously ill or dying in Windermere is increasing.
Even if the sewage discharges ceased immediately, these blooms are likely to persist in Windermere for decades as there is a significant build up of nutrient in the lake. As these sewage discharges continue on a regular basis, the Save Windermere campaign wants to ensure people understand the risks associated with the discharge of sewage into our lake — and have the technology to help them decide if they want to enter the water.
What's the solution?
Working with ioLight and BloomOptix, the Save Windermere campaign is looking to raise money to purchase a minimum of 5 handheld microscopes and to cover the subscription cost for the BloomOptix app for a minimum of 2 years. The app utilises machine learning to detect cyanobacteria down to genus level.
Save Windermere will donate these microscopes to lake users, swimming groups and local businesses to allow the real-time detection of harmful algal blooms and provide a better indication of when the lake may or may not be safe to swim in.
The use of these microscopes will also allow us to build a data set on bloom presence in Windermere. As more data is collected, machine learning will eventually be able to give proactive warnings when blooms are likely to occur.
Save Windermere wants people to be able to swim safely in our lake — free from sewage and free from fear.
The subscription to the BloomOptix app costs $1,500 for the Organisation subscription tier, and a further $500 for each microscope we add. This includes real time detection/ID data storage, data handling and prediction of blooms when enough data is collected.
Each microscope costs £960 but Iolight is working with the Save Windermere campaign to offer a 10% discount for each microscope.
With our initial launch we are wanting to secure funding for 5 microscopes and a 1 year subscription to the BloomOptix app. This will be a total cost to the campaign of £7,135.90, when taking into consideration current $ to £ exchange rate. This is the minimum we wish to raise. We want to provide as many microscopes as possible to the many individuals, groups and businesses that need them.
