This comes after yet another water quality test returned high-range results for both blue-green algae and enterococci, a bacteria caused by faecal matter in the water. 

Peter Clucas of Riverina Ski Sports said he and other lakeside business owners had been pushing for river water to be pumped into the lake since last summer.

“A secure source of water from the river – clean water from the river – is the only thing that will fix the lake and turn it into the amazing asset it’s meant to be,” Mr Clucas said.

“That’s the solution our committee started working on with the council 13 months ago, and we’re not going to stop until there’s a pipeline from the river into the lake.” 

Last week, council general manager Peter Thompson said an $8 million project to lease Riverina Water’s high-security licence to pipe water from the river into the lake had been fully costed, but had not yet been put to Wagga City Council. 

Mr Clucas said the proposed Tatton Drain diversion, which was supposed to go ahead in September but is no longer on the cards, would never have held the answer to the lake’s woes. 

“Tatton was a band-aid solution at best – the water coming from it would have been filled with food for the algae to grow,” he said. 

“It would’ve given us increased water levels, but again it was relying completely on rainfall, which in drought just won’t work.” 

Mr Clucas said he had been pushing for a river pipeline for almost 20 years, but he was confident the council would be able to secure funding to begin work by next summer.

Water quality testing conducted last week showed the level of faecal bacteria had dropped from high to low, however, after more rain, the most recent readings had returned to high.

Mayor Greg Conkey hinted that the council was also looking at additional ways to address the lake’s water quality problem, but did not confirm if that included piping in water from the river.

“It is a very valuable asset and we’re looking at ways to come up with a permanent solution,” Cr Conkey said.

“It won’t be cheap, but we’re certainly investigating and hopefully we can make some announcement in the new year.” 

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