“The St Lawrence is water, the Mississippi is muddy water, but the Thames is liquid history.“

–  John Burns, 1929

My friends had a lot to say about swimming in the Thames. “Isn’t it really dirty, and full of chemicals?” one asked, while another warned me to watch out for brain-eating amoebas. Luckily, the Oxford Uni Wild Swimming Society’s morning swim spot was safely upriver of London, free from brain-eating amoebas and any noticeable chemicals. Since it was the first swim session of the term, the shivering group of new members got a brief safety talk before we all plunged into the freezing water. Swimming in cold water is said to have many health benefits if you get out before the hypothermia sets in, and while I was a little numb after climbing out of the river, I definitely felt more awake than I had been all week.

Though it was cold and murky that morning, the Thames water is apparently not only mostly safe to swim in but also clean enough to drink (after extensive treatment and filtration, of course). Oxford has gotten its water from the Thames since 1694 when the city’s first waterworks began pumping water from the river. Nowadays, the Thames Water utility company provides water for most of Oxfordshire County, from river water that it diverts into a reservoir north of the city. The water is first filtered naturally through a wetland and then passes through a treatment plant before it’s piped into houses, dorms, and Bodleian Library water fountains alike.

According to Google’s top few search results, UK tap water is among the cleanest in the world. However, the Thames Water Company’s reputation is not quite as good. The utility company has recently been caught and fined for releasing undiluted sewage into rivers (seems like my friend was right to worry!), ordered to return millions to its customers after failing to meet improvement targets, and is facing mounting debt said to be worth almost 14 billion pounds. I’m not sure if they can be considered to be a “sustainable” source of water supply. But the Thames has fueled the city of Oxford for centuries, and while companies come and go, I think the river is here to stay.