REGARDING the letter from Adrian Taylor concerning the lack of river maintenance (Oxford Mail, March 14), while I agree with some of the points Adrian makes, I must say that his second paragraph doesn’t make any sense.

If Thames Water takes steps to keep “water flowing at the maximum rate” then the water goes downstream even quicker and we end up with less not more water.

As someone who spends more time than most (as an angler) by the Thames, it is quite apparent that fear of flooding in recent years has led to a policy of running off the Thames very quickly whenever we get rain, with the river pouring over the weirs and down to the sea even when the levels are not particularly high during the winter.

Then by summer, we have no flow at all to keep the river oxygenated and healthy.

What do we want?

A nice natural view or a dredged out, artificial canal, and a lack of water?

TONY WOOD, Bigwood Park, Radley