A "slick" of raw sewage has been covering the steps near Prince of Wales Pier and making life a misery for people using the harbour basin, according to boat owners.

South West Water and the Environment Agency have both said they are looking into a solution after human excrement was pumped out of the wall next to the Prince of Wales Pier basin this month.

Fiona and Guy Speed, who use the basin for their boat, said they had to "wade through churned up poo that looks like brown pea soup" twice this month, including during the Sunday of the Falmouth Classics regatta which brings tourists into the town.

Fiona said: "It it so horrible to wade through poo and have it stick to the boat, especially when your wearing sandals. Obviously it gets all over our hands too.

"We are not talking about a few floaters or sanitary products. I grew up in Falmouth and can remember the short fall outlets off the beaches and when it was an easterly at Swanpool beach you would be swimming in lumps of poo and condoms. I even did my GCSE geography project 30 years ago about the pollution caused by Falmouth short fall outlets.

"As a teenager I worked in the Pier cafe and can't remember this problem.

"But this is worse than that as it is all mashed up and covers at least 500 square meters."

A spokesperson for South West Water said it was notified of one spill on June 25, which was "unrelated to the other recent flooding incidents" which were caused by "heavy rainfall."

Chris King, the pier master for Prince of Wales Pier, said he had received reports of "sewage spilling into the basin on several occasions." He said: "Each time South West Water have attended. The last time was on June 25.

"We were told that there is collapsed pipe causing the problem. Which is on private property and that further action would be taken."

The South West Water spokesperson added that the spill on June 25, which the company reported to the Environment Agency and Port Health Authority, was unintentional, and came from a pipe which is designed to discharge only surface water.

They said: "Ops attended immediately to investigate and found a collapsed sewer pipe causing a blockage. This was discharging into the surface water pipe. Flow was restored to the sewer which stopped the pollution, and Glanville's [contractors] are currently on site working to rectify the collapse."

Mrs Speed said she had been contacted by Colin Bayes, a senior countryside officer for Cormac, who had told her that South West Water "holds a licence, issued by the Environment Agency, to discharge into the water at this location," but should display advisory signs when this is happening.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said they had spoken to South West Water and were in discussion over how to resolve the problem.

They said operatives "are in discussion with South West Water... about the issue and how it might be prevented or minimised in the future."

The agency added that it should be able to provide more information by the end of the week.