Council’s legacy should be to fix the lake
Past and present councillors and administrators of the WWCC need to hang their heads in shame. The fact that Lake Albert has been allowed to get to the state it is in today is absolutely disgraceful.
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The past two summers with no boating of any kind because of very poor management is unbelievable. I have lived in this city for over 60 years and this has been an ongoing problem for many years.
What has happened in the past, is that many ideas are tossed around and then we get a huge downfall of rain, the lake is filled and the problems are pushed aside till the next dry spell (and guess what nothing is ever done).
I can't even imagine the loss of tourism and dollars that many businesses are losing. Thousands of dollars have been spent on Apex Park and surrounding areas for what?
We have the potential to have an amazing tourist attraction with lots of family attractions, including all types of boating, water park and extra picnic tables.
Come on current Councillors, be remembered for fighting for our lake.
Susana Alleva, Wagga
Fixing Lake Albert comes at a cost
There is much pressure on council to "fix the lake" because of low water levels and blue green algae. Both problems are due to the drought and high temperatures.
Council responded to this problem when it occurred during the Millennial Drought, commissioning a comprehensive report, which is available on council's website.
To summarise, the lake's problems can be solved by engineering and water, the most feasible being a pumping station and pipeline from the river. Costings done in 2009 were about $5 million for the pipeline.
The water cost is much more variable depending on what option is chosen: one-off, or contracting a fixed volume of higher security water. Depending on option, the cost was between $400 and $2000 per rate notice every year.
Thus, if Wagga residents feel that having the lake full all the time is worth the increased rates, it can be done.
There remains the small problem of convincing downstream users that we can take 1000 to 2000 megalitres of water from the river during drought.
Gordon Murray, Brucedale
Something needs to be done
If it is true, as reported on ABC Four Corners, that Australian border force officials questioned two Saudi Arabian women wishing to come to Australia as to why they were travelling without their guardian and apparently refused to allow them into this country. This needs to be investigated as a matter of priority as to what are the government policies regarding the system of lifetime oppression of women in Saudi Arabia. Surely, as a member of the United Nations human rights committee, Australia should be speaking out against the terrible system of guardianship as practiced in Saudi Arabia. The recent issue where Canada rapidly “rescued” a young woman escaping from the Saudi system made our country look rather foolish. Were our officials dragging their feet so as not to offend the Saudis? Mr Dutton’s department needs to investigate the issue of how we treat Saudi refugees.