The River Leam (pronounced “lem”), anciently Leame,[1] etc, is a river in England which rises at Hellidon Hill in Northamptonshire then flows through Warwickshire, including the town of Leamington Spa,[2] named after it. It then flows into the River Avon near Warwick, and thence into the River Severn. The name is first recorded in 956 as Limenan, and derives from British Lemanā, meaning “elm-tree river”.[3]
Its major tributaries are Rains Brook, River Itchen, River Stowe and Radford Brook.[2]
The Environment Agency measure 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 and 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, and chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations. Chemical status is rated good or fail.[4]
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