In a major triumph, a river in London that had been declared a sewer in 1960s, has been reclaimed and cleaned up to become one of the cleanest and thriving rivers in Britain.
The Environment Agency said the transformation was achieved due to habitat improvement projects, tighter regulation of polluting industries and work with farmers, businesses and water companies to reduce pollution and improve water quality. River habitats have also benefited from reductions in the volume of water taken by water companies, farmers and industry, the authority said. The Wandle river , a tributary of the Thames river that flows through parts of Mitcham, Morden, Wimbledon and Wandsworth in southwest London, suffered extreme pollution and was officially declared a sewer in the 1960s.
“Over the last 20 years, it has become a vibrant rich habitat due to better environmental regulation, a fish stocking programme and huge local enthusiasm for the river which has resulted in a vast improvement of water quality,” the age-ncy said. Even Thames, known as one of the most polluted rivers, has made a dramatic recovery and from being a biologically dead river in the 1950s, it is now a river teeming with fish, and populations of salmon, otter and sea trout. The progress made by the Thames river was recognised and awarded the International Theiss Riverprize, which celebrates outstanding achievement in river management and restoration. The Environment Agency released a list of the 10 most improved rivers, which started out as most polluted rivers, but now are havens for wildlife once again. The other most improved rivers are Wear river in county Durham, Stour river in Worcestershire, the Darent river in Kent, the Dee river flowing from Wales through nor-thwest England, Nar river in Norfolk, Taff river in South Wales, Stour river in Dorset and the Mersey Basin. “Britain’s rivers are the healthiest for over 20 years and otters, salmon and other wildlife are returning for the first time since the industrial revolution. But there is still more to be done and we have plans to transform a further 9,500 miles of rivers in UK and Wales by 2015 — the equivalent of the distance between the UK and Australia,” Ian Barker, head of land and water at the Envi-ronment Agency, said.