Queanbeyan local Helen Jennings was out on her regular walk last week when she noticed unprecedented amounts of rubbish caught in the reeds along the river's edge.

"It's pretty bad, I'm embarrassed to live here," she said.

"I just go for walks along there quite regularly and I take a garbage bag with me now because it's just disgusting, it reminds me of a third world country.

"I've never been an advocate for the banning of plastic bags, but crikey this is a good example of what they do."

Ms Jennings referred the issue onto Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council, suggesting a community clean up of the area, but the idea was rejected due to the inaccessible areas the rubbish had wound up in.

"I think because of public liability with the bags being in such inaccessible places, it's too risky because council would have to take responsibility for someone falling in the river," she said.

A council spokesman said they were aware of the additional litter in the Queanbeyan River following the recent heavy rain events and were working towards a solution.

"At the moment, the river is still flowing too quickly to get a boat into the river, however we will be removing what litter we can from the bank," he said.