In late July, the sky was blue and the air warm. London had grand architecture, soaring skyscrapers, rows of intricately fashioned facades, vast expanses of green space and more, but one thing stuck out- the river. You see, as the sun shone upon the city, with the sky a white-blue, the river was a colour alike to a melted Cadbury's. And looking back at photos of my time in London that day, the river really does stick out like a sore thumb. But much to my surprise, as I waited for an Uber Boat on Waterloo Pier, I saw a slick, black shape surface from the murky waters- to my surprise, a seal. So it begs the question- if a seal can live in it, is the Thames really that polluted?

 

In 1957, scientists from the Natural History Museum considered huge areas of the River Thames so polluted that the river was biologically dead. And while the colour of its waters might blend right in with sewage leaks and muddy ditches, the secret to the river's English Breakfast Tea-esque water lies in its geology- not pollution. Many people believe that the Thames' colour lends itself to raw sewage, human waste and other things best not discussed in much detail and, while the Thames isn't devoid of pollution- rather the opposite, in fact- this is just one of London's many urban legends.


The more boring reality is that the river will always be brown, no matter the scale of cleaning efforts, as it is, by nature, a muddy river and progresses into a tidal estuary carrying massive amounts of silt per tide. And the river certainly isn't biologically dead anymore; bottlenose dolphins, porpoises, seals, seahorses, crabs and even sharks inhabit it- I myself have seen crabs in East India Docks and the aforementioned seal in Waterloo, along with a few around Greenwich.


The Thames also has idyllic nature reserves away from the city centre both in the meanders of Southwest London and in the estuarine marshes of far east London- Rainham Marshes in (unsurprisingly) Rainham, London Wetland Centre and Leg O Mutton in Barnes, Ham Lands in Richmond and more. And even in the city centre, London certainly wouldn't be the same without the Thames flowing through it, with the muddy waters providing a pleasant contrast with the sky when it's sunny (not very often). 

 

So next time you're strolling along the Thames, don't pity yourself for walking next to such a miserable-looking river- now you know that even though our beloved river looks like an open sewer, it has more wildlife than most rivers across the developed world, and is apparently clean, and will get cleaner with the new under-construction megasewer. So don't shy away from the river- dive headfirst into its wonders.
P.S. Don't actually dive into the river