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Environmental Science 101
The Environment, Human Life, and Sustainability
Presentation by Emma Davis

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The River Thames watershed is a European water source. This river is mostly known as the large river that runs through London. In truth though, the river runs through most of southern England and serves many people. This Padlet will walk you through its parameters, history, its current condition, and its future.

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The River Thames is a long river that runs through Europe. It covers roughly 210 miles of land (estimates varied from 205 to 215 miles). The river is 20 meters at its deepest point.
(River Thames: Facts and Information, 2016)

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The basin of the river receives about 27 inches of precipitation annually.
(River Thames: Facts and Information, 2016)

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There are currently a little over 25 different species of fish living in the River Thames waters. These fish are being threatened, though, by overflow from the sewer system.
(River Thames: Facts and Information, 2016)

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Two thirds of London’s drinking water comes from the River Thames. That’s over 6 million people.
(River Thames: Facts and Information, 2016)

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The water is mostly used for urban resources. As London is a popular tourist site that’s supports many businesses. The river plays a major part in the sustaining of life and hubbub in London. The River Thames is the reason such a large urban area was established in the first place.
(River Thames: Facts and Information, 2016)

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The biggest problem for the River Thames has been for a long time, its burden of storm-sewage pollution.  The sewage system is a combined sewage system. This means that rain water from storms and the city’s sewage share drain pipes. Sewage alone now fills the pipes completely, so when it rains the pipes are immediately overflowing into the river. This keeps the sewage out of people’s homes at least.
(Tideway, 2018)

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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In 1858, as the river was being used to remove London’s waste, the smell of the river became so bad that Londoners knew something had to change. That same summer parliament made plans for a change, and this led to the cities new sewage system. This sewage system was designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette. He intended for it to serve about 4 million people, even though only half that many people were living in London at the time. Unfortunately, now there are about 9 million people living and working in London.
(Tideway, 2018)

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The Great Stink occurred in 1958 when so much sewage had built up in the river that people could no longer bare it. Londoners started to be concerned that the river could transmit contagious diseases and local officials decided that it was time to take action.
(Tideway, 2018)

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The construction of Sir Joseph Bazalgette's sewer system started in 1859. The sewer system that he proposed is still in use today and is used by almost 9 million people. The sewer system used over 300 million bricks!
(Tideway, 2018)

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The build up of sewage led to much of the river’s life to completely die out though. The most recent massive killings of fish and other organisms in the river occurred in 2004 and 2011 when a large amount sewage flowed into the running water of the River Thames.
(Tideway, 2018)

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Recent tests of the water quality show that the water is stable. However, in a few of the tests it was found that the oxygen levels in the river are dropping.
(Thames 21, 2018)

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In 2014, Tideway proposed a possible solution to the River Thames pollution problem, and it was identified that ammonia build up from sewage was killing aquatic mammals, fish, and the birds that lived around the river.
(Tideway, 2018)

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A group by the name of Tideway suggested a solution to the sewage problem. The decision to put their plan in action was finalized in 2014.
(Tideway, 2018)

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The overall idea put forth by Tideway is an addition to the current sewage system. The current sewage system is in excellent shape, but it is simply too small. The addition to the sewage system will be a tunnel that runs underneath the River Thames.
(Tideway, 2018)

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The tunnel will take the sewage overflow from the original sewer system and move it to a tunnel instead of the river. The plans for the tunnel include the fact that the tunnel will run parallel, for the most part, to the River Thames.

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The tunnel will start in Acton. The tunnel will then work its way through London under the river. Tideway's plan is to let gravity do most of the work of moving the sewage overflow. The tunnel will exist at anywhere from 30 to 60 meters deep. Gravity will work the sewage eastward to sewage treatment plants.
(Tideway, 2018)

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Beckton Sewage Treatment Plant will be where the Tideway Tunnel leads to. It is the largest sewer treatment plant in Europe currently.
(Tideway, 2018)

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The Tideway Tunnel timeline includes its finalization of plans in 2014, the award of financial provisions in 2015, preliminary construction in 2016, and tunneling beginning in 2018.
(Tideway, 2018)

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The book by Ernest Cline and my trans boundary watershed project share the fact that society is trying to solve its problems with technology. The technology in Ready Player One has been used to try and make people forget about their lives outside of the OASIS. This is because the energy crisis and unemployment have made life on Earth really bad, and it is now hard to survive without being rich. However, escaping life through a video game may not be healthy. The technology that is involved with the River Thames also has problems related to how healthy the River and its surrounding life will be. We have no idea how the fish and other wildlife will respond to potential leaks of the Tideway Tunnel.
(Cline, 2011)

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Suggestions for Future Health of the River Thames

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Suggestions for Future Health of the River Thames

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My three suggestions are as follows:
1. To keep the wildlife in the watershed of the River Thames healthy, it might be beneficial to possibly ban or put a limit on fishing for the time being, until we are certain that the species are maintained.
2. I think that starting a nonprofit volunteer program to clean up the river after the Tideway Tunnel is completed would not only benefit the life within the river but the community that depends on it.
3. Lastly, I think that more frequent monitoring of the river's oxygen levels during the upcoming years would help us to stay in touch with the river's health.

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Cline, Ernest. Ready Player One. Broadway Paperbacks, 2011.

“Facts About the River Thames & Useful Information.” The Royal River Thames, from the Cotswolds to London - Visit Thames, 2018, www.visitthames.co.uk/about-the-river.

Tideway. “Our Solution - Tideway | Reconnecting London with the River Thames.” Tideway, 20 June 2018, www.tideway.london/the-tunnel/our-solution/.

“Water Quality Results.” Thames21, 2017, www.thames21.org.uk/thames-river-watch/water-quality-results/.