Volunteers fear they will left to clear fly-tipping from a Cambridgeshire watercourse.
Black bin bags of rubbish has been dumped in waterways between Thorney and Whittlesey, near Peterborough.
Litter picker Matthew Marraner, who lives in Eye, said: “It’s a big problem and it’s very difficult to clean because the council determines it’s not their responsibility, so it comes downs to volunteers to take the rubbish out and put it somewhere where it can be collected.”
Peterborough city councillor for Eye, Thorney and Newborough, Steve Allen, said: “The dumping of debris in the Thorney River has in the past been mercifully pretty limited, but the latest tipping really raised hackles.”