River Thames makes Top 10 Most Improved Rivers list
By RachelEngland | Wednesday, August 31, 2011, 13:18
The River Thames - once declared 'biologically dead' in the 1950s - has been identified as one of the most improved rivers in the UK by the Environment Agency (EA).
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The River Thames has come a long way since the 1950s
Painstaking efforts have been made to improve sewerage systems, increase regulations on polluting and boost water quality. Now there are many species of freshwater fish living and thriving in the river.
Kingston Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford has been leading the campaign to clean up the Thames for the last ten years, and in 2005 presented a petition to the European Parliament protesting the overflow of sewerage into the river.
Ludford believes that the influence of the EU has been integral in improving the quality of the Thames, noting that:
"Improvements would have been made without the EU laws on water quality, but the pace would have been very much slower. We will only see this continue as the UK complies with the EU's 2015 targets on water quality, and I will make sure that this continues.
"The people of London deserve an ecologically strong and clean river, not an open sewer."
Comments
Perhaps, but you wouldn't get me swimming in it. Still a bit of a cess pit, if you ask me.
By BasilBee at 14:31 on 31/08/11
ReportI remember my Dad once telling me he saw a dead dog floating down the river. Glad to see it's getting better!
By Evil_Custard at 14:19 on 31/08/11
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