Southern Water says 'fully treated' water, not a sewage mix, was discharged in the Sandown area, over the weekend.

It showed up on the water firm's monitoring site, Beachbuoy.

The recorded information says there was a half-hour long discharge, from 11.15am yesterday (Sunday, July 17), at the Sandown 2 outfall pipe.

However, a Southern Water spokesperson said: "We are aware of an alert to our Beachbuoy system, which provides near real-time information about releases of stormwater or wastewater in bathing areas.

"This was in the area of Sandown, from approximately 8pm on Sunday.

"Initial enquiries have identified that the water released was fully treated, and not sewage, but investigations are ongoing to establish the full circumstances."