A water company has pledged to install monitors at every sewage overflow in the south west by the end of next year.

Wessex Water has monitors at more than 80 per cent of overflows in the region but have said that figure will rise to 100 per cent by the end of 2023.

It follows a claim by the Liberal Democrats that monitors being used for measuring the amount of sewage being pumped into the sea are faulty or not even installed.

Wessex Water has also confirmed there are no faults with their monitors but said false alarms can sometimes be caused by factors such as wildlife triggering a sensor or mobile network failures.

These are reported as alerts, which feed into the Surfers Against Sewage interactive map, and join other alerts issued by the Environment Agency (EA).

Several areas on the map flagged as potentially polluted have raised concern amongst the public recently.

On Tuesday August 16, Boscombe Pier and Lulworth Cove had been marked with a 'Pollution Risk Warning', but Wessex Water said the alert was issued by the EA, and confirmed that no overflows had been discharged in the two areas at that time.

However, the following day, a map on Wessex Water's website showed sewage has been discharged at West Bay, Eype, Swanage, Hengistbury Head, Avon Beach and Friars Cliff in Christchurch.

Earlier in the month, Wessex Water said they were working to eliminate discharge of any untreated sewage.

A spokesperson said: "Storm overflows are sometimes used during heavy rainstorms to protect properties and roads from sewer flooding by releasing stormwater into watercourses.

"While it's extremely rare for storm overflows to cause a sewage pollution incident, we're committed to completely eliminating the discharge of any untreated sewage. Every month we're investing £3million to reduce storm overflows, starting with those which discharge most frequently or which have any environmental impact."