Dubbo Garden Hotel Fishing Club donate to drought communities out west

The Dubbo Garden Hotel Fishing Club were in Nyngan on Thursday to donate over $3000 worth of items for the Carp Muster Committee to host a raffle.

Dubbo Fishing Club vice president Robert Powyer said the donations are a way to support the committee, who have been unable to host the annual carp muster event in 2019.

"We've supported the carp muster since its inception and we normally have up to 80 people that attend each year," he said.

"We decided at a meeting a couple of months ago when they couldn't have the carp muster that we would do something to help the communities out here, especially in a drought where there's no water.

"We just want to see them keep going in future years."

Items to be included in the raffle by the  Bogan Carp committee include a kayak donated by the Garden Hotel, an engel fridge from IWRA, an esky donated by Paul Smith from Australias Crop Protection, and Nyngan's Peter Rees has also donated a large battery. 

Vice President of the Bogan Carp Muster committee Clive Littlejohn thanked the Dubbo Garden Hotel fishing club for their donations. 

The generosity doesn't stop in Nyngan, with the Dubbo fishing club also heading out to Byrock, Louth and Tilpa to donate fresh water from the small towns currently lacking clean water. 

Mr Powyer said when you turn on the tap in communities such as Louth what comes out is something you might see in a third world country.

"Louth and Tilpa are absolutely dire at the moment, they're bathing in muddy water," he said.

"They don't even have water to have a nice clean shower." 

The water is drawn from a stagnant pool of the Darling River, which stopped flowing months ago, and where the government in December identified toxic levels of blue-green algae.

But with supplies from rainwater tanks dwindling, the town's 35 residents have no choice but to shower and wash their clothes in the murky waters. 

To help provide some relief, the fishing club are carting over 22,000 litres of fresh water to Byrock, Louth and Tilpa.

"We just thought with this hopefully we can get some clean water out there so they can drink and brush their teeth in nice clean water," Mr Powyer said. 

The water was purchased through the fishing club via donations received from the community and organisations. 

"It's all been donated by people, the Garden Hotel, different organisations, from individuals who have donated $20 to individuals who have donated in excess of $1600, so it's just a combination of everyone that's been put together by the fishing club," Mr Powyer said.

The vice president thanked all their sponsors and the community for their donations to help provide the relief. 

"I'd just like to thank our sponsors, like CAM and Laser who have donated the trucks to come out here, Inland Distributors who gave us the water at cost price, and to everyone who has donated money," he said.

"Thank you very much, it just means a lot to us, and hopefully it means a lot to the communities out there."