Claims that contaminated water flowing into the sea at Swanpool was caused by work at a nearby building site have been denied.

Murky water emanating from the pipe on the southern end of the beach on Friday is instead thought to have been polluted by agricultural and road run-off.

A spokesperson for Linden Homes stated that its under-construction housing development The View has not yet been connected to the drainage network.

Surface water from the site is currently stored in "retention ponds" before being taken away by tankers, according to the Environment Agency.

Concerned resident Adrian Mckean contacted the agency after he saw "almost black" water "literally gushing out of the outfall" on Friday.

He added: "It was quite shocking to see this, our own family as well as friends use this beach regularly for swimming and other water sports, having witnessed this today I would certainly be wanting to warn them of this pollution before entering the water at Swanpool."

Falmouth Packet:

A spokesperson from the Environment Agency said they had not managed to pinpoint a source of the contamination but pointed out: "It’s probably a combination of agricultural and road run-off."

They also confirmed that run-off from the building site is not currently being discharged into the sea.

"All the surface water run-off from the Linden Homes site is being contained on site using the unconnected site drainage and retention ponds. This is taken off site by tanker for disposal," said the spokesperson.

Linden Homes has previously said that when its housing estate is connected to the drainage network, a filter will be installed to reduce the amount of oil and other pollutants entering the system from surface water.