VIDEO: Anglian Water responds after Northampton dog walker spots raw sewage flowing into River Nene

Dog walker Max Read said he made the discovery while walking through Miller's Meadow, better known as Semilong Park, on Thursday June 4.

Mr Read said: “I was walking my dog at Miller's Meadow. Most days, I'll wander over to the side of the stream at the bottom of the park to see if any wildlife is about. Just next to the children's play area, there's a large metal flap that covers the end of a pipe.

“I noticed that there was water flowing from it, which is unusual. Then, I realised that there were pieces of excrement mixed with the water – it appeared to be raw sewage.

“As it blended with the stream, the difference in colour was obvious.

"It smelt disgusting.”

After being contacted by the Chronicle & Echo, Anglian Water confirmed a storm overflow at the site had been activated.

An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “This activation for Millers Meadow on June 4 was triggered following rainfall which caused our storm overflow to operate.

“We know our customers and communities feel strongly that storm overflow discharges are unacceptable, and we agree.

“Our long term goal is to completely stop using storm overflows, but getting there isn’t something we can do overnight. We’ve already removed more than 340 storm overflows from our network entirely, and we’re investing £1 billion between now and 2030 to tackle storm spills by installing more stormwater storage and preventing rain and groundwater from getting into our pipes to begin with, making storm overflow activations less likely.”

Storm overflows are used by water companies to release excess water from the sewer network during periods of heavy rainfall to prevent flooding and sewage backing up into homes.

However, their use has come under increasing scrutiny amid concerns about pollution in rivers and waterways across the country.

In response, Max said: “There had been some rain, but not very much, so I cannot understand why this would be overflowing into this small stream in the town centre.”

The Environment Agency has been contacted for comment.