It’s Alive!
In the 1950s, British scientists declared London’s famous River Thames as “biologically dead.”
Turns out, it’s not so dead.
Even though centuries of pollution caused many river creatures to flee, a recent report revealed they are coming back, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
Recently, researchers wrote in their first-ever State of the Thames Report that many species, including sharks, seals and seahorses, are appearing in the 215-mile river once again.
The team said two seal species – the harbor and gray seal – were reported swimming around the Thames. They also documented more than 110 fish species in the river but cautioned that the number of species has been in decline since the early 1990s.
Scientists said that while sewage treatment and regulating the inflow of waste has helped improve the river over the decades, they warned that many issues remain.
The report found that nitrate levels – which negatively affect water quality and wildlife – have been rising due to industrial waste and sewage flowing around the British capital.
It also raised concerns about the effects of climate change, noting that some stretches of the river have warmed by 0.34 degrees Fahrenheit annually since 2007.
Even so, scientists and conservationists are making efforts to preserve the Thames’ delicate ecosystem: London is working on the Thames Tideway Tunnel, which will collect and store raw sewage instead of allowing it to overflow into the tidal basin.
Meanwhile, the Zoological Society of London is working with conservationists and other groups to restore parts of the river with native seagrasses and critters such as oysters.
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