LA’s river is not your average city river, and is iconic for very different reasons to the picturesque Seine of Paris, or historic Thames of London. It is a mostly dry abandoned concrete channel, used for car chase movie scenes and home to a growing homeless population – though, as Olly Wainwright reports, there are ambitious plans to “revitalise” it.
Although rivers often become celebrated focal points of cities around the world, many others are buried, neglected, underused or mistreated. We asked you to share your photographs and memories of unloved city rivers around the world. Here’s a selection of some of the best contributions, from tales of the River Irwell in 1940s Salford – so polluted with bleach it could give those who fell in “peroxide hair” – to exploring forgotten and historic rivers in water crisis-stricken São Paulo.
Kathmandu, Nepal
Crossing the Vishnumati River, Kathmandu
On a walk across Kathmandu to visit the 'monkey temple' of Swayambunath I ascended a bridge over a small valley. I picked my way through discarded fruit and dead rodents littering the pathway. I glanced over the side of the bridge to see a morass of black binliners and discarded material cascading into a gloopy mass below - the Vishnumati River. A movement caught my eye, it was a dog ranging through the detritus. Another movement, this time it was a child. Our guide later told us that refuse collection does not exist in Kathmandu.
Zurich, Switzerland
Sihl River, Zurich, Switzerland
I guess it was cheaper to build a motorway over the river than build a tunnel.
Salford, UK
The recovery of the Irwell is nothing short of miraculous. I vividly recall sitting as a kid on the top deck of a bus travelling along The Crescent in Salford in the early 1970s. The river was a dark, dead, slow-moving slick with islands of chemical foam floating on it. Even the plants on the banks appeared to die back as they reached the water’s edge. Mind you, it had been even worse. My mum, who grew up next to the river near the row of bleach works in the 1940s, said that rumour had it that if you fell in and survived you’d end up with peroxide hair. (salfordexile66)
Bristol, UK
River Frome, Bristol
Displaced by the huge concrete structure of the M32 above it, the river Frome is a fenced off, barred in river that looks like an open sewer
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Despite Kuala Lumpur translating into English as “Muddy Estuary” the river the city was founded around now just seems a massive source of shame for the city with it usually viewable only from the LRT. In parts of the city theres remnants of European style walkways alongside the river but this idea has long been given up on and its now mostly hidden behind big walls and full of rubbish as the high rise buildings continue on without it. (Charles Brophy)
Birmingham, UK
River Rea: building the love for an Urban watercourse
The River Rea flows through the centre of Birmingham and for much of it's length is constrained by a Victorian brick channel. For decades much neglected and ignored but now communities are being trained to help monitor the health of their river by surveying the creatures that live there. Read more http://www.yourstream.org.uk/
São Carlos, Brazil
Missed opportunities
The Gregório River runs through the city of São Carlos, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Its waters have been forced under the streets, channeled, hidden or simply ignored over the years. Even when they run through the town center they are mainly an eyesore, an embarrassment. This is just an example of the many missed opportunities to turn the river into an asset for the city and its inhabitants. A group of students have created a blog that pays tribute to all rivers and creeks of this city that are subject to the same cruel treatment: https://aguasdamemoria.wordpress.com/
Exeter, UK
Exeter River Exe
This is part of the flood channel of the River Exe that flows through the centre of Exeter. It's a concrete snake and this part rarely has any water in it. That's my daughter standing in one of the puddles.
São Paulo, Brazil
A historical and forgotten river
The lyrics of the Brazilian national anthem begin with a reference to a heroic cry heard ringing out on the banks of the River Ipiranga, in São Paulo. This photo shows the historic river today, at the very spot on which Brazilian Independence was proclaimed in 1822. São Paulo is now facing the worst water supply crisis in its history – and it shows. The image was captured during an expedition led by Rios e Ruas ('Rivers and Streets') – an initiative that runs tours and workshops to show the reality of the city's forgotten rivers.
www.facebook.com/rioseruas
Pinheiros River
São Paulo is the capital of unloved rivers. They are all either polluted, buried or had their natural course altered. Pinheiros and Tietê are the two biggest rivers in the city. Both are dead, with a foul smell and surrounded by avenues and buildings.
London, UK
Does anyone remember the Thames at Woolwich in the 50s and early 60s? It stank like a corpse and was totally dead ... There was always a thick oily film on top of the black sluggish water and the smell stuck to your clothes. The air tasted of sulphur and oil. Weirdly, people seemed quite proud of it and being able to ignore the stench, not to mention or remark on it, was proof of your status as a Londoner. (ronmor)
River Ravensbourne in Lewisham
The confluence with the Quaggy is unrecognisable as developers prepare Lewisham's rivers for their starring roll in the sale of expensive residential appartments
Chennai, India
The Cooum River is highly polluted in the urban area in Chennai, South India. For centuries, the Cooum has been an integral part of the socio-economic and cultural life of the city. Until the early twentieth century, it was a clean river, most suitable for navigation ... Now, nearly 30 per cent of the estimated 55 million litres of untreated sewage being let into the waterways of Chennai daily gets into the Cooum river and more than 7 tonnes of solid waste is being dumped in the river every day.
According to scientists, around 1950, Cooum had 49 species of fish, and by the late 1970s, this was reduced to 21 species. And now, it would be nil, owing to highly toxic pollutants found in the river water.
One of the city’s dream projects is to clean up this river on or before 2020. The initiative has been taken up by the Central and State governments to clean up the river and rediscover the pleasures of traditional boat racing. The Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust (CRRT) has asked the Chennai Corporation to chalk out an action plan to remove construction debris dumped on the banks of the river. A nature trail along the river has been proposed for which a draft ecological plan has been prepared by the Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure and Financial Services Limited (TNUIFSL).
And anyone’s dream in Chennai is for the whole river to be cleaned and to store drinking water, as well as possible inland transport and water sports too! (vinoba raja)
Nairobi, Kenya
The Motoine-Ngong River in Nairobi
The Motoine-Ngong river in Nairobi traverses both the affluent and impoverished regions of the city. As the city has grown the river has suffered from worsening environmental degradation cause by physical development, encroachment and high levels of pollution which have resulted in the deterioration of its riparian zone. Most of the pollution comes from the informal settlements that occur along the waterway. Addressing the challenge of waste management within informal settlements and using public space as a tool for remediating the waterway could improve this natural feature and provide much needed usable open green space for city dwellers.
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Unloved Arrudas
Underneath this avenue runs a river called Arrudas. Just like him, many others were imprisoned to supposedly ensure urban mobility in the city of Belo Horizonte, one of the most important capital in Brazil. In this context, the nature have been superimposed by an idea of development for motorized transport. The consequence has been the increase in temperature, flood or water scarcity. This photo was made with a camera Holga120 in 2013.
Vienna, Austria
The most egregious example I can think of here is Vienna, which has the mighty Danube flowing through it and yet as a visitor you wouldn’t know. The otherwise quite pleasant city centre completely turns its back on the aforementioned waterway, making more out of a concrete ring-road than this wondrous natural thoroughfare, to its enormous detriment (to my mind, you’re not a great city unless you face water in one spectacular way or another); it is put to shame by Budapest further downstream, which reveres die blaue Donau exactly as you’d want it to. (LewishamGooner)
A few years ago, on a sweltering day in August, we took the U-bahn to the Danube to escape from the heat, only to find the bank either side of the station stitched up with private housing, paying swimming baths, marinas and boatyards. No free public access. I’m sure there must be pleasant riverside parks, but we didn’t find them. (ferret70)
Dublin, Ireland
The River Poddle runs under Dublin City and comes out at the Liffey. Not many know about it, but rumours abound of nighttime escapades in its storm drains under Dublin Castle. Red Hugh O Donnel even escaped the castle via the Poddle many years ago. I’ve always wanted to get in and have a look myself. (fergaladams)
