The Call of Nature is the campaign to prevent pollution in our rivers and watercourses, caused by poorly maintained off-mains sewage systems.

It may not be glamorous, but if we don’t look after our septic tanks, cesspits and package sewage treatment plants, they’ll start to fail. This means they’ll start to smell, spread disease to humans and animals, pollute our local rivers and seas. And nobody wants that.

Whether you live, work or are visiting the beautiful coasts and countryside of Cumbria, Lancashire and Merseyside, you’ll find lots of useful information on this page… and please do the right thing when you need to answer the call of nature.

This project was funded by the Environment Agency and was written and produced by the Lake District Foundation with support from South Cumbria Rivers Trust, Morecambe Bay Partnership, Eden Rivers Trust, Lune Rivers Trust, Wyre Rivers Trust, West Cumbria Rivers Trust, British Water and Ribble Rivers Trust.