Brisbane (where I live) the river is affectionately called 'the brown snake' mainly because of silt. Even though sand mining/dredging has ended, the river is silty still. Is that why swimming isn't recommended? No: its because upstream on oxley creek, major industrial and agricultural runoff issues during historic floods in the last 10-20 years have raised contamination, fecal coliform and other problems such that you risk serious antibiotic resistant bugs if you accidentally ingest too much, or get it in cuts (I know because I row, and a rowing colleague wound up on IV antibiotics with amputation being discussed from a deep cut)
When it floods in brisbane, associated creeks continue to leach the effects of 100+ years of industrial waste and effluent into the water. Nearby cities have land which is capped 2m deep over what was septic tank discharge, it is said that shigella is still a significant risk if you dig into the soil. I don't know, I thought it died, but perhaps it persists?
Well.. that and the bullsharks but we're talking about pollution.
Yes, the Thames is coming back to life and significant fish numbers have risen in the last decade, we're miles off "the great stink" which caused Bazalgette to construct the sewers on the riverbank. Is it always entirely safe to "be in" -well no. Sources upstream occasionally dump sewage overflow along the length of the Thames. Its meant to be emergency only, but sewage overflow has to be dealt with pretty rapidly. They try not to. What do you do, when the system is overloaded?
I am amazed Paris has been able to restore river health enough to do this. Well done!
Bazalgette 2.0 - post millennium mega sewer on steroids.
We’re building a 25km Super Sewer under the Thames to intercept those nasty spills and clean up our river for the good of the city, its wildlife and you.
Impressive and hopefully enough for a few years. It's a massive project with many tunnel lines, deep sink holes to pump stations and tunnel boring machine launch and recovery points etc.
Until then - don't flush those f-ing wet wipes!! :-)
Super Sewer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZszSTjZ-i4
Thames Water alone dumped raw sewage into rivers 5,028 times in 2021. I wouldn't call that 'occasionally'!:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/20/thames-w...
But there are still lots of other rivers where remediation takes still place, e.g. because the rivers was used for raw sewage.
You may not want to look up if swimming in the Thames is safe.
> You may not want to look up if swimming in the Thames is safe.
The Thames is in England
They said "liberal European...". As much as (some of) the English might hate it they are European...
https://www.britannica.com/place/Europe
Continents are more about how humans want to group landmasses rather than a hard scientific definition.
I think your assumptions around liberal European countries is seriously flawed.
You have to understand that the current-day environmentalism is only a recent phenomena, while the waters have been getting polluted for centuries. It just takes lot of time and effort to turn that around.
It has been discussed every now and then, but it's always too complicated, or the solutions available aren't liked by the people in charge.
"Our river is so dirty, it's too dangerous to swim in there. Let's build a swimming pool into the river!"
Here's a link to a "BeSafe" app to help you navigate Paris without being pickpocketed or shanked! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/besafe/id425631096
You are actually more likely to get mugged on the Champs Elysées or the 16th.