Sir Steve Redgrave has voiced his concern over the river pollution.
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00:00She was very much aware of us as a campaign charity group of putting pressure on.
00:06She talks a very good game.
00:09They have put some measures in already in the short term of the governments.
00:13Governments have been, over the last few generations, have been given licenses to water companies
00:18to be able to pump raw sewage into our waterways, and that's just not acceptable from my point
00:23of view.
00:24And that they can't put on a time where they're going to stop that.
00:28So they have actually put in powers already to put restrictions on bonuses.
00:35How can you give bonuses to water companies and shareholders if you're producing something
00:41very badly?
00:42I'm very much in favour of awarding people for good work, but obviously the work that's
00:48happening with our water companies isn't good, and they're being rewarded from that.
00:53We need to spin that around and make sure they do.
00:56Sir Steve delivers a letter directly to the Environment Secretary, which stressed the
01:03need to combat contamination of the River Thames.
01:07The five-times gold medalist called for an end to, quote-unquote, pollution for profit
01:14by water companies, and argued for firm action against Thames water to ensure it cleans up
01:21its infrastructure.
01:23This, of course, all comes days after the Mayor announced his plans to clean up the
01:29waterways in London, devoting over £7 million to the cause.
01:36Thames Water has also suggested they will be devoting £1.8 billion to improve river
01:43health in London.
01:44However, Thames Water, which has of course come under fire for many of its environmental
01:51practices, continues to face complete financial turmoil, even after that approval earlier
01:58this month for a £3 billion loan.
02:02So Emma's talking a really good role of how they're going to put the water companies
02:09into the infrastructure that they've been released the money to be able to improve.
02:14What I want to see is action, and she's promised me that she's going to come up with a timeline
02:20of where this infrastructure's going to be so we can hold the government to task, but
02:26also the government can hold the water companies to task as well.