泰晤士河为英国第二大河,是南部最重要的工业河流。在19世纪,它曾是英国最脏的一条河流。不仅河中水生动物几乎绝迹,而且,由于水质的严重污染,使得伦敦在1832～1886年的50多年的时间里,爆发过4次流行性霍乱,仅1849年1次就死亡了1400人。本世纪20年代以来,泰晤士河两岸兴建的炼油、造纸、化工、印染、发电等各种工厂, The River Thames is the second largest river in the UK and the most important industrial river in the south. In the 19th century it was once the dirtiest river in Britain. Not only were the aquatic animals in the river almost extinct, but four more epidemic cholera broke out in London in more than 50 years from 1832 to 1886 due to the serious pollution of water quality, and 1,400 people died in 1849 alone. Since the 1920s, various factories such as oil refining, paper making, chemical industry, printing and dyeing, power generation and other factories built on both sides of the Thames,