River Leam

The River Leam (pronounced "lem"), anciently Leame,[1] etc, is a river in England which rises at Hellidon Hill in Northamptonshire then flows through Warwickshire, including the town of Leamington Spa,[2] named after it. It then flows into the River Avon near Warwick, and thence into the River Severn. The name is first recorded in 956 as Limenan, and derives from British Lemanā, meaning "elm-tree river".[3]

The River Leam in Leamington Spa

Tributaries

Its major tributaries are Rains Brook, River Itchen, River Stowe and Radford Brook.[2]

Water quality

The Environment Agency measure water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrates, angiosperms and fish, and chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations. Chemical status is rated good or fail.[4]

Water quality of the River Leam in 2019:

SectionEcological
Status		Chemical
Status		Overall
Status		LengthCatchmentChannel
Leam - source to conf Rains Bk[5] Poor Fail Poor 23.642 km (14.690 mi) 62.907 km2 (24.289 sq mi)
Leam - conf Rains Bk to conf R Itchen[6] Moderate Fail Moderate 13.775 km (8.559 mi) 62.148 km2 (23.995 sq mi)
Leam - conf R Itchen to conf R Avon[7] Poor Fail Poor 22.553 km (14.014 mi) 65.72 km2 (25.37 sq mi)


See also

References
  1. Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary (Third ed.). Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster. 1997. p. 636. ISBN 0-87779-546-0.
  2. "River Leam Catchment Pilot". Environment Agency. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  3. Watts, Victor, ed. (2010), "Leam", The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521168557
  4. "Glossary (see Biological quality element; Chemical status; and Ecological status)". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency. 17 February 2016.
  5. "Leam - source to conf Rains Bk". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency.
  6. "Leam - conf Rains Bk to conf R Itchen". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency.
  7. "Leam - conf R Itchen to conf R Avon". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency.



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