He was speaking at the installation on Thursday of a Gross Pollutant Trap (GPT) under the LH Ford Bridge on the eastern bank of the river.

The GPTs are part of a program to clean up the river and trap rubbish washed into it from streets and gutters by rain.

Cr Shields said the timescale for cleaning out the traps would depend on whether there was heavy rainfall and how much rubbish flowed through. 

He said it also depended on how “dirty and grubby” Dubbo community members were and whether they continue to “just throw” syringes, bottles and other items in the gutters.

“Realistically, we shouldn’t have to install these [GPTs]. I’d like to think that all of the people of the Dubbo community aren’t grubs ... but clearly we’ve got em,” he said.

Cr Shields said the city should be proud of the GPTs ... that it is going to have one of the best environmental management set ups in Regional NSW when it comes to river care.

“Getting it cleaned up and user friendly is going to be one of the best things for the region,” he said.

Matt Hansen of Inland Waterways Rejuvenation Association said the GPT meant much less rubbish would make its way into the Macquarie River from a 34-hectare section of the city.

“Thousands and thousands of tonnes of rubbish have made their way downstream of Dubbo over the last few decades. Our current system is outdated and not trapping the pollution,” he said. 

Mr Hansen wants to see around an 80 per cent reduction in rubbish In four year’s time.

“I want to see every inflow into the Macquarie protected by a GPT and I would like to see in a small rain of events no streams of rubbish pouring into our river that we’ve seen in recent times.”

Cr Shields said the DRC has a long way to go in reaching its goal. It has a policy to install pollutant traps for the entire city.

“Effectively we have to play catch up of the existing city here. It’s guaranteed to be done within four years. We are going to find the funds, we are going to re-divert funds from areas of council to make sure this is done.” 

He said results will be shown straight after the GPTs are installed. 

“As soon as it’s installed, the first bit of water that goes down through the storm water system - we are going to start bringing that trash out of the river immediately and it’s only going to become better over the next four years.”

Around $200,000 went toward the trap, but council say it hasn’t gone into the total cost of the four-year program yet. 

Cr Shields said costs depended on different earthworks and different types of grounds used and the full designs and cost had not been worked out, but the DRC is looking at a multi-million dollar investment.

“The entire DRC is committed to getting this up and running and I’m quite pleased that everyone is committed to it,” he said.