Wagga resident Daryl Kay says the conditions in the Willans Hill Reserve are so bad that he no longer feels comfortable walking there.
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News that the reserve has been earmarked for a community tidy up during Clean Up Australia Day on Sunday, March 4, brought a strong reaction from Mr Kay.
“I used to walk up on the hill each morning.The amount of trash is disgusting up there,” he said.
“I have seen it all: drug deals going down, drugs being used, builders’ waste dumping and stolen vehicles burnt out, idiots with pig dogs – blooding them on the resident kangaroo population – and the list goes on.
“I won’t go up there anymore for fear of being hit by idiots on unregistered trail bikes.”
Mr Kay said he now walks his dogs at the Brick Hill Reserve near the Eunony Bridge, but he has noticed this area is not immune to the issues he encountered on Willans Hill.
“This stretch of river is the worst I have seen for rubbish dumping,” Mr Kay said.
“I wonder if these ignorant idiots realise a percentage of their drinking water is drawn from the river just downstream from this site.”
Mr Kay said he had been walking in the Brick Hill Reserve just prior to the World Championship Gumi Race and noticed the area was being tidied up.
Yet, he said, within days rubbish was once again being illegally dumped.
“I was out and I saw a tradie come in with a load of rubbish – in broad daylight – and dump it,” Mr Kay said.
“They had it all nice and cleared up, and then the rubbish dumping starts again. It’s just an ongoing thing.
“I just don’t know what the answer is. There can’t be people there patrolling it all the time.”
Wagga Tidy Town Sustainable Community secretary Graham Jackaman said illegal dumping was a cause of frustration.
“These are people not caring for the environment, people who think it is OK for them to just dump their rubbish for other people to pick up. It frustrates the life out of me.
“These are the people you won’t see helping on Willans Hill on Clean Up Australia Day.”
Wagga Mayor Greg Conkey said illegal rubbish dumping was a problem in parts of the city.
“People have been dumping their rubbish illegally in various locations,” he said.
Cr Conkey said the relative isolation of the Willans Hill Reserve made it more vulnerable to the illegal dumping of rubbish.
“There is a small percentage of people in our community who are not responsible and who are lazy and think they can just dump their rubbish wherever they like,” he said.
“If they are caught, they will be prosecuted.”