Back to the river is sunk

The project at the Forks of theThames was known as Back-To-The-River. Supposedly Londoners has forgotten the river that runs through the city from east to west with a very large branch forking off in the core to head north.

Is this true? Have Londoners forgotten the river? I can't speak for others but I've always been very aware of the Thames River and the larger North Thames River. I live where I do because of the river. I didn't want to live on flood plain and that is one reason I live near the local ski hill.

I lived for years in a neighbourhood near the Forks of the Thames and each spring I lived with the fear of a flood. Before Fanshawe Dam and Pittock Dam floods were not common but they did happen and homes were lost and people died.

Note the depth of the water in the illustration of the curving walkway proposed for the Forks of the Thames. The height is a lie. A dam on the river in the southeast of the city washed out a few years ago. That dam held back the river creating a reservoir that extended all the way upstream to the core of the city. Without the dam, the water is lower, cleaner and one might say healthier.

Now, with the cost of covid-19 looming, the cost of the Back-To-The-River walkways seems out of the question. The folk behind the effort have withdrawn their funding and the project has been canceled. Many folk will not be sorry. A natural, free-running river with fish and osprey and even a few bald eagles is more to their liking.

Forget the river? I don't think so. But it may not take long for many Londoners to forget the winding walkway.