Abstract
Abstract. The River Thames and 15 of its major tributaries have been monitored at weekly intervals since March 2009. Monitored determinands include major nutrient fractions, anions, cations, metals, pH, alkalinity, and chlorophyll a and are linked to mean daily river flows at each site. This catchment-wide biogeochemical monitoring platform captures changes in the water quality of the Thames basin during a period of rapid change, related to increasing pressures (due to a rapidly growing human population, increasing water demand and climate change) and improvements in sewage treatment processes and agricultural practices. The platform provides the research community with a valuable data and modelling resource for furthering our understanding of pollution sources and dynamics, as well as interactions between water quality and aquatic ecology. Combining Thames Initiative data with previous (non-continuous) monitoring data sets from many common study sites, dating back to 1997, has shown that there have been major reductions in phosphorus concentrations at most sites, occurring at low river flow, and these are principally due to reduced loadings from sewage treatment works (STWs). This ongoing monitoring programme will provide the vital underpinning environmental data required to best manage this vital drinking water resource, which is key for the sustainability of the city of London and the wider UK economy. The Thames Initiative data set is freely available from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology's (CEH) Environmental Information Data Centre at https://doi.org/10.5285/e4c300b1-8bc3-4df2-b23a-e72e67eef2fd.
Highlights
The River Thames and its tributaries play a vital role in sustaining the ca. 13 million inhabitants of the Thames basin, including the UK capital, London
The objective of this paper is to present an overview of the comprehensive data produced by the Thames Initiative research platform, detailing how samples were taken and analysed, and providing a general description of the spatial and temporal patterns in water quality
We provide some new basic interpretation of the data, to enable future users of the data to place their studies within this basic framework
Summary
The River Thames and its tributaries play a vital role in sustaining the ca. 13 million inhabitants of the Thames basin, including the UK capital, London. The River Thames basin faces growing pressures from a rapidly increasing population and water usage, which is likely to increase pollution loadings and water stress in future decades. These effects are likely to be exacerbated by future climate change, with predicted lower flows and droughts in the Thames region in the summer months and increased flooding in the winter (Bell et al, 2012; Johnson et al, 2009). To reduce these effects, major mitigation measures are being implemented. Diffuse pollution from agricultural activities is being targeted through schemes such as the Catchment Sensitive Farming initiative, and point source inputs have been
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