LAKE Albert has benefited from the heavy saturation Wagga received at the weekend, with the water level visually rising slightly due to the downfall.The torrential rain the city received on Saturday not only added much-needed water to the stricken lake but had next door Marshall Creek filled to the brim.Wagga residents were yesterday alarmed to see Marshall Creek holding the huge quantity of water, and again were left questioning why the water has not been pumped into the lake.Despite howls of protest from some Wagga residents, Mayor Kerry Pascoe yesterday again defended the Marshall Creek pump set-up.He was quick to quell suggestion the water would be wasted in the creek, declaring the majority of water which "runs into the lake" is from the northern end. He said the pump is only used at certain times when the water level has fallen too low to flow unassisted."Over 95 per cent of the water that went into the lake would have come from the northern end of the lake," he said."The creek is full at the moment and the water is running off into the lake."We only use the pump from time to time and we start the pump after the rain is finished; we would be wasting our time if we used it more often than that."(On Saturday night) the water would be going straight into the lake."The Daily Advertiser fielded a number of concerned calls from Wagga residents in regard to the quantity of water in Marshall Creek.Farmers rejoiced in the downpour as dams throughout the region received a much-needed boost.Together with the rain received through last week and the additional injection over the weekend, dams were overflowing.