THE bank of a popular Northern swimming area is being used as a rubbish dump - and authorities say there is nothing they can do about it.
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Broken television sets, disused oil heaters, old fridge doors and taped-up cardboard boxes have been thrown off the Blessington Road bridge on to the banks of the North Esk River at Corra Linn and are believed to have been there for at least a week.
Most of the objects were strewn along the side of the river on a large rock cliff.
However, confusion surrounds who actually owns that land, with groups contacted by The Examiner yesterday all saying they believed the property to be privately owned.
West Launceston's Jasmine Sammut was swimming at the site with her partner last Wednesday when she heard voices and saw items being thrown from the bridge on to the river banks and into the river itself.
"I was disgusted that people had no respect for the place," Miss Sammut said.
"Kids had just been jumping off the rocks into the water just before.
"So to see the stain of metal from the televisions float along the water was horrible. It made me feel sick. We got out straight away."
After seeing the objects being thrown into the water, Miss Sammut contacted the Launceston City Council, Inland Fisheries and the Environmental Protection Authority.
Yet a week later, no action had been taken.
A Launceston City Council spokeswoman said that the dumped rubbish was on a private property, so it could not comment.
Inland Fisheries director John Diggle said the rubbish was not its responsibility as the site was private property and so it had referred the matter back to the council and the EPA.
"We've looked at it, investigated it and reported it and it's over to them," Mr Diggle said.
"We are concerned about rubbish in our waterways but it's out of our control."
EPA director Alex Schaap said the matter had been reported, but a litter report must be lodged before the authority could act.
"In the absence of a report under the Litter Hotline, local government authorities are generally the appropriate authority to pursue cases of localised litter dumping and may also be able to advise upon the impact of any such dumping," Mr Schaap said.