River Thames

:This article is about the River Thames in southern England. For other meanings of the word Thames, see Thames (disambiguation)

Catchment area

The river's catchment area may be divided between the non-tidal and tidal (see below) sections:

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• The non-tidal section:
• Here there are innumerable brooks, streams and rivers within an area of 9948 square km (3841 square miles), and combine to form 38 main tributaries feeding the Thames between its source and Teddington. These include the rivers Churn, Leach, Cole, Coln, Windrush, Evenlode, Cherwell, Ock, Thame, Pang, Kennet, Loddon, Colne, Wey and Mole.
• More than half the rain that falls on this catchment is lost to evaporation and plant growth. The remainder provides the water resource that has to be shared between river flows, to support the natural environment, and the community needs for water supplies to homes, industry and agriculture.
• The tidal section
• About 90 km from the sea, at Teddington, the river begins to exhibit tidal activity from the North Sea. London was reputedly made capital of Roman Britain at the spot where the tides reached in AD 43, but this spot has moved up river in the 2000 years since then. At London, the water is slightly brackish with sea salt. Below Teddington, the principal tributaries include the rivers Brent, Wandle, Effra, Westbourne, Fleet, Ravensbourne (the final part of which is called Deptford Creek), Lea, Darent and Ingrebourne.

The whole of the River Thames drains a catchment area of some 12,935 square km (4994 square miles) (or 15,343 square km (5924 square miles) if the River Medway is included as a tributary).

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The information relating to the catchment area has been taken from the website Floating Down the River

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Between Maidenhead and Windsor, the Thames supports an artificial secondary channel, known as the Jubilee River, for flood relief purposes.

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See Rivers of Great Britain for a full list of tributaries.

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