Work has started to stop raw sewage from flowing into a river.

Southern Water said it had found properties in Lymington, Hampshire, with illegal drainage connections, sending toilet waste into surface water pipes.

Previously, Friends of the Earth campaigners said levels of E. coli - a possible sign of faecal contamination - in the Lymington River were 80 times the safe limit.

Southern Water said it would use tankers to remove the foul water until the problem was fixed.

Lymington resident Jon Holland, a former drainage engineer, was involved in the E. Coli testing.

He said: "This is absolutely terrible. The safe limit is 1,000... and this is 81,000 units of E. coli.

"It's particularly unfortunate that we raised this in July and it's now October."

Mr Holland said the problem had been identified as coming from about 20 properties in Brunswick Place, which were built in the 1980s.

Lymington Society chair Don Mackenzie said the issue was probably more widespread.

He said: "It's likely I think that lots of properties round here maybe are not connected into the sewer but are connected into the surface water drain."

He said residents had waited for years for action from Southern Water after reports of a "terrible smell" near the sewer outfalls.

The water company said it had not been able to replicate the E. Coli results in its own testing, although it said the misconnections could explain intermittent readings.

In a statement, it said: "Local sewers, pumping stations and treatment sites are working as they should, but a number of illegal connections have been uncovered.

"These are private homes or businesses with wastewater pipes wrongly plumbed directly into surface water drains, causing pollution.

"We're taking steps to fix these and are using tankers to remove wastewater from the area, to protect the local environment.

"We are also working closely with the local authority on our ongoing investigations into any other contributing factors to water quality concerns."

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Work starts to stop flow of sewage into Lymington River