Passionate Lake Albert advocates have called on Wagga City Council to consider a short-term water level fix that would involve diverting water through Tatton Drain.
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Wagga Boat Club commodore Mick Henderson and two of his supporters addressed the media this morning in the latest twist in the contentious feud between council and frustrated residents.
Mr Henderson has called on council to ask the Natural Resources Access Regulator to remap the Tatton catchment area to allow the city to capture the water there "in the short-term".
He said current mapping incorrectly showed a third stream which meant council would have to obtain a water licence to divert water from the drain, which runs under Lake Albert road, into the lake.
He said if the map was "corrected" it would move the water into a different category and allow council to take control of the water without the need for a licence.
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Mr Henderson hit back at mayor Greg Conkey and council general manager Peter Thompson for saying angry residents had done little to help find a workable solution to Lake Albert's water levels.
"We have approached council with a lot of issues that we feel we can be of assistance and help and there is no communication back to us," he said.
Cr Conkey said Mr Henderson's Tatton Catchment Area proposal was reliant on rain and the "only feasible long-term solution" was to pipe water from the Murrumbidgee River.
Council has this month submitted a draft plan for the future of Lake Albert to NSW water minister Melinda Pavey, though Cr Conkey said he wasn't sure how long it would take her to consider the arrangement.
Council's preferred solution would see it receive an annual credit for the 5000 megalitres of treated effluent it returns to the Murrumbidgee River and use that credit to pump an additional 2000 megalitres of water into Lake Albert when required.
Cr Conkey said council would consider remapping but would wait for Ms Pavey's response "before we look at other avenues".
Mr Henderson backed council's solution as "the best outcome of all", urging them to "get it over the line" with Ms Pavey and water bureaucrats in Sydney.
Lake Albert resident Hugh Dodwell, a supporter of Mr Henderson's, called on council to save "the jewel of Wagga".
However, Mr Dodwell said he would be unwilling to back a rates increase to pay for a pipeline to pump water from the river because he didn't "want to give [council] any more money".
Catie McLeod
Catie is a reporter at The Daily Advertiser covering health and Wagga City Council. You can contact her on c.mcleod@dailyadvertiser.com.au or 0475 819 651.
Catie is a reporter at The Daily Advertiser covering health and Wagga City Council. You can contact her on c.mcleod@dailyadvertiser.com.au or 0475 819 651.
