Federal funding pumps nearly $4.5 million into Lake Albert Water Sports Precinct

A federal grant will inject almost $4.5 million into the development of Lake Albert Water Sports and Event Precinct.

Wagga Wagga City Council (WWCC) has received $4,493,776 in funding under the Federal Government’s Growing Regions Program.

Wagga City Mayor Dallas Tout welcomed the announcement.

“It’s fantastic,” Cr Tout said. “It’s something that’s been happening over a long period of time for the elected officials and staff.

“We’ve got the money, we’ve got the plan and now we’re going to move into detailed design and start working through that … and get this up and completed within about two years.”

WWCC is one of 40 successful applicants from Round One of the Growing Regions Program, which received a total funding of about $207 million from the Australian Government initiative.

Round One funding will be used to develop Lake Albert Water Sports and Event Precinct by installing pumps and pipes, remediating the foreshore, and upgrading the existing Lake Albert weir and spillway system.

Cr Tout said the funding would be matched by WWCC for the construction of infrastructure that would allow 1800 megalitres of water to be pumped from the river to the lake annually.

“It will also allow the remediation of more than two kilometres of foreshore to address erosion issues and upgrade the existing weir and spillway system.

“These works, once completed, will ensure that Lake Albert has a consistently high water level, enabling a large variety of water sports and events to be held within the precinct.”

WWCC’s contribution to the $8987 million project will be funded through the council’s internal reserves, which were previously restricted to future infrastructure development.

Ben Creighton, the council’s manager of city growth and regional assets, said the funding announcement would allow the council to move forward with a long-planned project.

“The pipeline will allow the council to deliver consistently high-level water to Lake Albert,” Mr Creighton said.

“Council received a licence 12 months ago that enabled us to pump 1800 mega litres of water a year into the lake. This pipeline will essentially be the infrastructure that will deliver that.

“Lake Albert is an incredibly important asset to the city…and it’s been a focus for us to deliver this infrastructure and enable the water levels to be maintained.”

Mr Creighton said the council was continuing to work on the ongoing algae issue at the lake.

“We completed a trial over the summer, and the final report will come back to the council in the next month or so,” he said.

“We’ll be looking at the outcomes of that trial in terms of what further measures we can take along with the infilling of the water to the lake to ensure that we can continue to address algae issue moving forward.”

Member for Riverina Michael McCormack welcomed more than $10 million in funding under the Growing Regions Program, which will deliver new community infrastructure in Wagga Wagga, Cowra and Parkes.

“I’m really pleased the communities of Wagga Wagga, Cowra and Parkes will be receiving a share in more than $10 million to support the development of local community and economic infrastructure,” Mr McCormack said.

“This project [Lake Albert Water Sports and Event Precinct] is absolutely vital, and I was pleased to support the council in its endeavours to secure funding for it.

The Federal Government’s Growing Regions Program supports local government entities and incorporated not-for-profit organisations to deliver capital works projects in regional and rural Australia that support community socio-economic outcomes and regional priorities.”