Retro: A river worth preserving". Ealing Gazette. 18 February 2011. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020 . Retrieved 27 August 2020. The River Thames may take its name from the Sanskrit Tamas meaning “dark” as its waters are often dark and cloudy; another school of thought is that it is named after the Roman Tam meaning “wide” and Isis meaning water. River Thames: current conditions updated for Thursday 20 April 2023. Changes to following reaches - Iffley, Abingdon, Culham, Clifton, Marsh, Hambleden, Marlow and Boveney.

River Thames current river conditions updated for Monday 13 March 2023. Changes to Romney and Old Windsor reaches. Quadri, Sami (22 November 2022). "Food wrappers make up '20 per cent of lightweight plastic in Thames' ". Evening Standard . Retrieved 21 April 2023.The Queen goes gree: hydroelectric turbines arrive at Windsor Castle". Telegraph. 8 September 2011. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020 . Retrieved 27 August 2020.

Whilst the use of the river to drive water-mills has largely died out, there has been a recent trend to use the head of water provided by the river's existing weirs to drive small hydro-electric power plants, using Archimedes screw turbines. Operational schemes include: Since June 2012, the Port of London Authority has made a by-law, which it enforces, that bans swimming between Putney Bridge and Crossness, Thamesmead (thus including all of central London), without obtaining prior permission, on the grounds that swimmers in that area of the river endanger not only themselves, due to the strong current of the river, but also other river users. [97] River Thames: current conditions second update for Tuesday 9 May 2023. Changes to the following reaches - Radcot, Rushey, Clifton, Days, Benson, Cleeve, Goring, Whitchurch, Mapledurham, Caversham, Blakes, Sonning, Shiplake, Romney, Old Windsor, and Bell Weir. Reaches Radcot, Rushey and Clifton on Red Boards. River Thames conditions updated for Friday 28 April 2023. Changes to following reaches - Day's, Benson, Cleeve, Goring, Whitchurch and Mapledurham. The official source of the River Thames, Thames Head (the spring being called Lyd Well), can be found in the county of Gloucestershire in a Cotswold meadow called Trewsbury Mead near Kemble and approximately 3 miles south west of Cirencester. It is approximately 360 feet (110 m) above sea level.to following reaches: Grafton, Osney, Iffley, Benson, Mapledurham, Boveney, Chertsey and Teddington. River Thames: current conditions updated for Wednesday 17 May 2023. Changes to following reaches - St Johns, Buscot, Grafton, Radcot, Marsh, Hambleden, Hurley, Temple, Marlow, Cookham, Boulters, Bray, Boveney, Penton Hook, Chertsey, Shepperton, Sunbury and Molesey. Enjoy a short break or day out along the River Thames, a walkalong the Thames Path National Trail, or choose a circular walk that starts from the river bank. Stop off at one of the great riverside pubs and hotels along the way, and refresh yourself with a drink or sample locally sourced meals.

In 1909 the powers of the Thames Conservancy over the tidal river, below Teddington, were transferred to the Port of London Authority. As early as the 1300s, the Thames was used to dispose of waste matter produced in the city of London, thus turning the river into an open sewer. In 1357, Edward III described the state of the river in a proclamation: "... dung and other filth had accumulated in divers places upon the banks of the river with ... fumes and other abominable stenches arising therefrom." [53] The River Thames has played several roles in human history: as an economic resource, a maritime route, a boundary, a fresh water source, a source of food and more recently a leisure facility. In 1929, John Burns, one-time MP for Battersea, responded to an American's unfavourable comparison of the Thames with the Mississippi by coining the expression "The Thames is liquid history". In the 19th century the quality of water in the Thames deteriorated further. The discharge of raw sewage into the Thames was formerly only common in the City of London, making its tideway a harbour for many harmful bacteria. Gasworks were built alongside the river, and their by-products leaked into the water, including spent lime, ammonia, cyanide, and carbolic acid. The river had an unnaturally warm temperature caused by chemical reactions in the water, which also removed the water's oxygen. [58] Four serious cholera outbreaks killed tens of thousands of people between 1832 and 1865. Historians have attributed Prince Albert's death in 1861 to typhoid that had spread in the river's dirty waters beside Windsor Castle. [59] Wells with water tables that mixed with tributaries (or the non-tidal Thames) faced such pollution with the widespread installation of the flush toilet in the 1850s. [59] In the ' Great Stink' of 1858, pollution in the river reached such an extreme that sittings of the House of Commons at Westminster had to be abandoned. Chlorine-soaked drapes were hung in the windows of Parliament in an attempt to stave off the smell of the river, but to no avail. [60]River Thames: current conditions updated for Thursday 14 September 2023. No stream warning changes.

Aquatic mammals are also known to inhabit the Thames. The population of grey and harbour seals numbers up to 700 in the Thames Estuary. These animals have been sighted as far upriver as Richmond. [46] Bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoises are also sighted in the Thames. [47] River Thames: current conditions updated for 25 March 2023. Changes to following reaches - Boulters and Teddington. All reaches are now displaying red boards. River Thames: current conditions updated for Wednesday 8 February 2023. Changes to following reaches - Sandford, Abingdon, Culham and Clifton. Between west London to the end of the route at the Thames Barrier in Greenwich, look out for the Thames Path National Trail symbol. Beyond the Thames Barrier, the route is way-marked with the Thames Barge Symbol. Maps and guides

River Thames: current conditions updated for Sunday 7 May 2023. Changes to following reaches - Grafton, Radcot, Rushey, Marsh, Hambledon, Hurley, Temple, Marlow, Cookham, Boulters, Bray and Boveney. River Thames: current conditions updated for Monday 20 March 2023. Changes to the following reaches - Osney, Whitchurch, Sonning, Cookham, Boulters, Bray and Penton Hook. Richard Coates suggests that while the river was as a whole called the Thames, part of it, where it was too wide to ford, was called * (p)lowonida. This gave the name to a settlement on its banks, which became known as Londinium, from the Indo-European roots * pleu- "flow" and * -nedi "river" meaning something like the flowing river or the wide flowing unfordable river. [10] [11] River Thames: current conditions updated for Monday 17 April 2023. Changes to following reaches - Boulters, Bray and Teddington. One of the major resources provided by the Thames is the water distributed as drinking water by Thames Water, whose area of responsibility covers the length of the River Thames. The Thames Water Ring Main is the main distribution mechanism for water in London, with one major loop linking the Hampton, Walton, Ashford and Kempton Park Water Treatment Works with central London.