A town's business could be a potential source of suspected river pollution, the Environment Agency has now revealed.

It comes after serious fears of pollution have been raised after water in a brook was turned blue.

The stream and brook runs at the back of Fold Croft and through the Canons Brook Golf course, near to Fourth Avenue in Harlow.

In an email to Robert Halfon Tory MP for Harlow, seen by the Epping Forest Guardian, agency bosses say the business has been spoken but officers could not find any harm to the environment.

It comes after criticism of the agency from the council and MP.

In an email to Mr Halfon the Environment Agency said: "Our specialist officers attended the site again on Tuesday morning and discovered the Canons Brook had a grey discolouration to it, coming from the same surface water outfall as the incident on Sunday. We called Thames Water out to help trace the discolouration back to its source.

"We worked closely with Thames Water and didn’t identify any blockages on the surface water or foul sewer drains, though we did observe some blue/green staining when we lifted the surface water manholes.

"We have traced this staining back to a potential source located on Elizabeth Way, though we are unable to disclose the name of the business at this time. Thames Water will be the leading authority on deciding next steps, including whether to take any enforcement action going forward.

"We have provided advice and guidance to the business regarding the consequences of tipping substances into the surface water drains and the probable need for a trade effluent permit from Thames Water.

"We took water quality readings on both days we attended and didn’t observe any impacts to fish, wildlife or water quality."