Guidance

[Withdrawn] River Thames: Coronavirus (Covid-19) update 27 March 2020

Updated 16 August 2022

Applies to England

This document was withdrawn on 16 August 2022, because it is out of date.

For latest Coronavirus guidance please visit Environment Agency waterways: Coronavirus (COVID-19) updates.

In addition to the national update for all Environment Agency waterways, the River Thames Waterways team have provided specific guidance for boaters on the River Thames.

We cannot stress enough the need to avoid all but essential journeys on our waterways at the present time, and this applies to all boats - powered, unpowered, recreational and commercial.

Please do heed our advice which is based on government guidance and is solely intended to protect you and others.

Lock site access

In order to protect our staff, all areas of our lock sites which members of the public do not need to access will be closed. This includes all campsites and lock and weir fishing sites. You will still be able to access the areas needed to operate the lock or use facilities such as fresh water points.

Sewage pump-outs

If you need to use our sewage pump-out facilities, email WaterwaysThames@environment-agency.gov.uk, giving as much notice as possible. You should state which lock you need to visit and provide a contact phone number. A member of our Waterways team will call you back to discuss how this will be arranged. This email inbox is monitored during normal business hours from Monday to Friday. It is not monitored at weekends.

The sewage pump-out facilities currently open are those at:

• Eynsham
• Abingdon
• Mapledurham
• Shiplake
• Boveney

Pump-out facilities at all other sites are currently unavailable and we apologise for this inconvenience.

Use of locks

To discourage non-essential movement of boats, all locks will be hand wind only. As our locks at Hambleden and Cookham do not have hand wind operation, these locks are closed until further notice.

Teddington Lock is also closed. We will consider providing a hand wind service for short periods to enable essential journeys only. Any requests which we deem to be non-essential will be declined.

If you need to go through Teddington Lock, email WaterwaysThames@environment-agency.gov.uk with your contact details. A member of our Teddington Lock team will then be in touch. This email inbox is monitored during normal business hours from Monday to Friday. It is not monitored at weekends.

A full list of lock closures can be found at River Thames: restrictions and closures.

Obstructions in the river

As a result of the prolonged (and continuing) period of strong stream conditions, a considerable number of hazard marker buoys have been moved out of position. In addition, river and weather conditions may have created new hazards.

We would normally carry out a survey of all reaches at the earliest opportunity once river conditions make it safe to do so, to reposition marker buoys and install them where we identify new hazards, until such time as we can deal with them. We cannot currently do this, or carry out operations to remove hazards. Therefore, not only should all movement be restricted to essential journeys only, such journeys must be carried out with extreme caution.

We know that there are hazards blocking the navigation at Sunbury and Marsh Locks, which are both closed until further notice. Hazards are also restricting use of both Temple Lock and Clifton Lock.