Realtime pollution alerts needed on Windermere, campaigners say after boy nearly dies

Claire Earley says her family checked the Environment Agency website before their kayaking session, which gave a rating of ‘excellent’. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Realtime pollution alerts are needed across Windermere urgently, campaigners have said, as the mother of a seven-year-old boy who kayaked on the lake described how he nearly died after contracting a dangerous strain of E coli from contaminated water.

Claire Earley’s son Rex spent six weeks in hospital, and underwent two emergency operations, after a family kayaking trip on Windermere last August.