Environment: The Tale of Two Rivers

A success in Britain, but a nightmare in California

Along its shores stand the Houses of Parliament and the Tower of London. Only a few miles upriver are the meadows of Runnymede, where the barons extracted the Magna Carta from King John. The Thames is indeed England's Royal River, but it has not always been treated royally. Long a favorite garbage dump, the Thames' tidal waters near London had become so foul by the 17th century that James I threatened to move his court to Windsor. Then came two events that turned the river into...

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