Following an urgent alert over the weekend regarding a potential "serious incident affecting the Hogsmill River, with large numbers of dead fish visible in the water", it has now been confirmed that the river has not been polluted.

The incident was suggested to have impacted Hogsmill River from Ruxley Lane past Bourne Hall, and the Environment Agency was on site over the weekend to investigate the situation. 

However, taking to Facebook today (Monday, 13 April), the Hogsmill Local Nature Wildlife Group said: "We can confirm the Hogsmill has not been polluted. The area in question is a short culvert that feeds rain water from Ewell Court houses drainage. 

"We have spoken with the Environmental agency and Thames water and they both explained it looks like the minnows had swam up the small stream from the Lake and into the area of the culvert where the water level drops into a lower and narrower section. 

"They believe the fish have died from lack of fresh oxygenated water and unable to swim back out towards the lake. We inspected the rest of the river from source at the Spring in Ewell up to Ruxley lane and everything is clean and looks fresh with wild life. 

"There is no dead fish in the Hogsmill river. Thames water are currently on site with a net cleaning out the dead fish. I was a little sceptical when speaking with the Environmental agency at first but everything being said does make sense. 

"It doesn't look like there is any cover up going on and pleased to report the Hogsmill river is looking healthy."

It continued: "This post is only referring to the main Hogsmill river and not the culvert where all the fish have died. 

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"It does look like poisoning but the Environmental Agency and Thames water both say the fish swam up there and were unable to swim out because the water level dropped. There are no dead fish (so far) in the Hogsmill. 

"This requires some eyes on monitoring and some regular testing of the water."

An Environment Agency spokesperson told Nub News: An Environment Agency spokesman said:

"Specialist officers are investigating what caused the death of hundreds of fish at West Ewell on Saturday.

"We have sent water samples from Ewell Stream for testing, while Thames Water is increasing oxygen levels in the water for the fish that remain.

"The public can report any sightings of dead or distressed fish to the Environment Agency's free 24-hour incident hotline: 0800 807060."

They added that the exact number "of fish that perished are still being assessed".

Nub News has contacted Thames Water for more information.