The Thames Rivers Trust is a registered environmental charity dedicated to improving the River Thames and its tributaries for the benefit of people, biodiversity and the environment. It acts as the Hub and focal point for the Thames catchment; and works with a wide range of partners including government agencies, private companies and NGOs with the aim of delivering an integrated approach to the management of the Thames River Basin.
It supports:
- Catchment management, habitat improvement and river restoration projects large and small
- Rural and urban areas and included opening up fish passage, reconnecting rivers to the floodplain, as well as an innovative community water quality modelling scheme.
- The Water Framework Directive (WFD) objectives and in 2017 formed and began administering The Thames Catchment Forum (TCF) with other third sector groups and government agencies.
- Natural Flood Management as part of the Environment Agency’s six year Thames Flood Risk Management Strategy.
- A sustainable water re-sources strategy for the Thames River Basin and is working with the EA, water companies and other third sector organisations to achieve this.
Bring Back the Eel consultation
The Bring Back the Eel consultation is open now until 31 October 2026. It's asking people about their relationship with the river, what they value most about it, and what they'd like to see change. The results will directly shape a major programme of eel barrier removal and community engagement we're developing through the Thames Catchment Community Eels Project with partners including ZSL, Thames21, ARK, and SERT.
Previously (December 2020 – March 2022) TRT led the successful Thames Catchment Community Eels Project. This £250k partnership project was driven to aid the long-term survival of the European eel. It engaged thousands of people with eels as well as developing and proving the need for a new Citizen Science methodology for collecting eel barrier data, ObstacEELS.
