“We were fishing on the Tingha side of the dam and saw all this rubbish in the water, drums, nappies, beer bottles, all sorts of stuff, so we got in and pulled it out.”

What the men did not expect was to be at the dam until 8pm pulling enough rubbish out to fill two Land Cruiser utes.

“Me and my brother go out to that part of the dam nearly every week to fish, but we hadn’t been out for two or three weekends.

“When we go out we usually pick up a bit of rubbish, but we had never seen it that bad.

“We had two ute loads of drums all full of rubbish. It’s disgusting.

“It isn’t that hard to put rubbish in bins or take it to the tip, dumping it in the dam could affect the fish and don’t forget it’s Inverell’s water supply.”

Guyra Shire Council is responsible for that section of the dam. Trainee health and building surveyor Geoff Dowden said he did not think the rubbish in the water was as a result of illegal dumping.

“When the dam rises quickly, the bins we place at that area of the dam can get submerged before anyone has the chance to move them.”

Guyra Shire Council employs a contractor, based at Tingha, to clear rubbish away from the areas fishermen and campers use. Mr Dowden said that as the contractor was only employed once a week, bins could get moved and submerged.

“The contractor doesn’t go out to the dam every day and campers and recreational fishermen will often move the bins closer to the waters edge or where they are camping.

“As a result they can go into the water and I think that is what has happened in this case, the drums have become noticeable to the men who pulled them out of the water.”

Mr Dowden said that while illegal dumping could be a problem within the shire, he did not see why people would dump their rubbish in the dam.

“I couldn’t imagine why someone would go all the way out there just to dump their rubbish, we have found illegal dumping to be an issue in the shire, especially as garbage collection points have a charge now, but we are seeing people dump along roadsides and stock routes, not in the dam.”