Does the river thames have any dams?
No – probably because a) the valley is long and shallow – there are too many settlements (with ancient. historic and very valuable property) on its banks to allow flooding the whole Thames Valley and b) the fall between source and mouth is not that great so flow isn’t that fast anyway and c) the value of the hydro electric power produced would not justify the loss. Dams usually occur where rivers have a large drop from source to mouth and are fast flowing with a certain number of gallons per second. They also happen where the natuaral history/wildlife are considered expendable in terms of the benefit brought by H.E.P What the Thames does have, are a great many weirs and locks which aid navigation and help prevent flooding. And there is of course the Thames Barrier but that doesn’t dam the water flowing from upstream – it controls tidal inflow to stop the city of London flooding.
