Residents on the flooded side of Echuca's levee say they are sick of living in dusty and dirty conditions caused by the structure almost two months since it was built.
The 2.5 kilometre levee was built in mid-October to stop a rising Murray River from inundating Echuca.
The decision on its location was made by Emergency Management Victoria.
Holes have since been cut into the levee for car access and part of the wall has been shortened to make way for vehicles.
Goulburn Road resident Erin McCann's flood-ravaged home was on the "wrong side" of the levee.
She said residents had been left in the dark as to when the structure would be taken down.
"People just fly down the road in their cars and there is dust everywhere, it's dangerous, especially with children in the area," Ms McCann said.
"The authorities do these meetings and they try to get information out, but it feels like it's just to save face because we're not getting any real information.
Fellow resident Darryl Sargent said the levee situation was a disgrace.
"I don't know how long they're going to leave it or what they're going to do with it, it's just a mess," he said.
"An absolute mess."
Calls for compensation
Ms McCann and Mr Sargent said they would be asking the council for some kind of compensation and were considering legal action against authorities.
"If they don't feel like they should help the people on the wrong side of the levee, then why should we pay rates for them," Ms McCann said.
"Clearly our homes have gone from so much in value, right down, because no one wants to buy a house after a flood.
"They could stop our rates for 12 months so that we could use the money to pay to fix things because we were forgotten about by the authorities."
Mr Sargent said the council was told "years ago" to put a levee bank in a better location.
"But apparently they never did it — and now you can see what's happened," Mr Sargent said.
Removal delays
Campaspe Shire Council expects roadside flood waste will be removed in coming weeks as it reviews its flood response.
"We will look back at how it was handled, how everyone handled their different parts, to make sure that if it happens again, we will improve and do better next time," Mayor Rob Amos said.
Murray River water levels were slowing falling around Echuca but the Bureau of Meteorology outlook predicted above-average rainfall during summer.
Cr Amos said the decision on when the levee came down would be at the discretion of the State Emergency Service, which was in charge of the structure.
"That's why the Incident Control Centre has made the decision not to remove the levee or the sandbags," he said.
"We need to be aware that we don't know what the weather's going to do."
