I swam in the Thames last week. Yes, it is full of sewage – but it is also a beautiful river | Nell Frizzell

The Thames is often treated badly: pumped with effluent by water companies and viewed as just a geographical gap or dividing line. It is worth remembering its magic

Pull on your effluent suits and ring the sewage bell because, friends, Thames Water is being fined. Or at least it might be. The industry regulator, Ofwat, finally said out loud what we have all known for some time: that the privatised water company has been pumping raw sewage into our waterways for years. As a consequence, the company is facing a fine of 104m; just to put that number into context, according to the BBC, Thames Water reported an increase in annual profits to 157.3m last year, but is also facing a debt of 15.2bn. It makes huge profits and has no money; it's almost as if turning one of life's most essential building blocks into a commodity to be distributed for private gain wasn't a great idea in the first place.

The thing about the Thames is that many of us - particularly residents of London and the towns and cities further upstream - don't really think of it as a river at all. We treat it as a geographical gap; a dividing line between north and south, or between local wards, or between different demographics. It might be scattered with boats, sure, but it's also scattered with plastic bottles, old shopping trolleys, timber pallets and crisp packets, just like any rundown city car park or alleyway. But the Thames is a river. In many ways, it is one of the most beautiful rivers in Britain; aesthetically and for all the history and culture it holds.