Cr Conkey's column in the council's weekly newsletter, published on Friday, addressed a petition circulated earlier this month calling for the council "fix the problem quickly".

Absent of a "first and cheapest" solution via a return to normal rainfall, Cr Conkey said the council would be left with major costs to second and third options to pump Murrumbidgee River water or treated sewage into the lake.

"If council goes ahead with either solution two or three, a Special Rate Variation would be required to be paid for by all ratepayers over a five or seven-year period," Cr Conkey stated in his column.

"Councillors are awaiting for a staff report, which can then be circulated enabling the whole community to give their feedback and whether there is an appetite for a Special Rate Variation to pay for the 'fix'."

Ratepayers are already subject to a Special Rates Variation to pay for flood levee upgrades, which is due to end in 2021.

Wagga resident and Barry Carne Interstate Challenge committee member Jacinta Evans launched the petition after the annual water skiing event had to be scaled back due to the lake's condition.

The petition has gathered almost 4400 signatures as of Monday afternoon.

Ms Evans told The Daily Advertiser that Lake Albert should not be treated any differently to other major projects that have been delivered without Special Rates Variations.

"A lot of residents want to stop paying rates until the lake gets fixed," she said.

"The council has let the lake get this way and it's up to them to fix it."

Ms Evans has acknowledged the cost of rapid action at the lake but said it was justified given estimated tens of millions of dollars in economic activity the attraction brought to Wagga.

"There are a lot of projects that have received government grants of $10 million but they can't find $18 million for a lake that's worth $42 million to the economy/" she said.

Last year the council attempted to support the lake's water level by redirecting Tatton Drain but the move was delayed by a state regulator.

Cr Conkey told The Daily Advertiser that he did not dispute Lake Albert's value to Wagga but it was a matter of having the money at hand.

"It's certainly not cheap for either of the (pumped water) options," he said.

"We don't have the money. It's as simple as that.

"How do we get the money? We either have to go to the community about a Special Rates Variation to pay for the water or we borrow.

"We are trying to be a council that is financially sustainable in the long-term."

Cr Conkey said purchasing fresh water for Lake Albert even be possible as the irrigation market tightens with low supplies and high costs.

"If we decided to pump water from the river, I would see a tremendous backlash to the council from people downstream who are screaming out for town water supplies.

"There would be a backlash from the council pumping a scarce and valuable commodity into a lake to be used for recreation.

"Pumping water from the sewage treatment works may be more palatable solution to our problem despite it being more expensive."

Wagga City Council's weekly newsletter, Council News, is published on its website and in The Daily Advertiser as part of a commercial arrangement with this masthead's publisher.