River Leam

The River Leam in Leamington Spa

The River Leam (/lɛm/) is a river in England which rises at Hellidon Hill in Northamptonshire then flows through Warwickshire, including the town of Leamington Spa,[1] named after it. It then flows into the River Avon near Warwick, which flows into the River Severn.

Toponymy

The name is first recorded in 956 as Limenan, and derives from British Lemanā, meaning "elm-tree river".[2]

Tributaries

Its major tributaries are Rains Brook, River Itchen, River Stowe and Radford Brook.[1]

Water quality

The Environment Agency measures the 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' or '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. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated 'good' or 'fail'.[3]

Water quality of the River Leam in 2019:

Section Ecological
Status		 Chemical
Status		 Overall
Status		 Length Catchment Channel
Leam - source to conf Rains Bk[4] Poor Fail Poor 23.642 km (14.690 mi) 62.907 km2 (24.289 sq mi)
Leam - conf Rains Brook to conf River Itchen[5] Moderate Fail Moderate 13.775 km (8.559 mi) 62.148 km2 (23.995 sq mi)
Leam - conf River Itchen to conf River Avon[6] Poor Fail Poor 22.553 km (14.014 mi) 65.72 km2 (25.37 sq mi)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "River Leam Catchment Pilot". Environment Agency. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  2. ^ Watts, Victor, ed. (2010), "Leam", The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521168557
  3. ^ "Glossary (see Biological quality element; Chemical status; and Ecological status)". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency. 17 February 2016. Text was copied from this source, which is available under an Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.
  4. ^ "Leam - source to conf Rains Bk". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency.
  5. ^ "Leam - conf Rains Brook to conf River Itchen". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency.
  6. ^ "Leam - conf River Itchen to conf River Avon". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency.

52°17′N 1°33′W / 52.283°N 1.550°W / 52.283; -1.550

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