Raw sewage was pumped into the River Wey at Alton for longer than six hours over the Easter weekend.

Water Trust data recorded a three-hour, 15-minute sewage discharge at the Newman Lane sewage pumping station from 10.30pm on Sunday.

This came after the pumping station’s overflow lagoon was overwhelmed.

A further three-hour sewage discharge was recorded at the Holybourne pumping station earlier on Easter Sunday, from 11.30am.

The earlier discharge was just metres downstream from Mill Farm’s Easter trail for children and its popular, and now sadly aptly-named, ‘Pooh sticks bridge’.

It comes just weeks after Environment Agency figures were released last week showing sewage spills into England's rivers and seas by water companies more than doubled last year.

According to the agency data, there were 3.6 million hours of spills compared to 1.75 million hours in 2022.

Last weekend’s spills were caused by heavy rain overwhelming Thames Water's sewage infrastructure.