Lake Albert
Lake Albert is a shallow lake adjacent to Lake Alexandrina and the Coorong in South Australia.( Click here for the location). Various options are being attempted to save Lake Albert from drying out and the harmful affects of acid sulphate soils. Options and opinion vary on how to save Lake Albert, from planting crops on Lake Albert to inundating it with seawater. Government plans on what to do about Lake Albert have varied from pumping, to drying out, to back to pumping water again from Lake Alexandrina. Read the October 2009 community update. Check this page for current water levels of Lake Albert.
Governmental plans have probably changed as a result of the conditions at Loveday Bay.
A recent government decision to stop pumping water to Lake Albert and instead allow it to dry out is wrong. Especially when there are economic and environmentally sustainable alternatives available. There are various ideas that can be explored. One is to utilize existing drains as explained here. Another is for Lake Albert to be connected to an adjacent Ramsar site, the Coorong or even possibly the sea. Here is the latest government information on Lake Albert.
To allow Lake Albert to dry out is in breach of the Ramsar convention charter which intends to preserve nominated wetlands by whatever means possible. Read more about the Ramsar and Lake Albert.
The town of Meningie which is on Lake Albert is suffering. Read this article 'Receding lakes leaves town high and dry'. and this one Stopping the pumping of water from Alexandrina to Lake Albert .
Read about the fish kill organized by DEH (Oct 2009) to bring down fish numbers in Lake Albert before they die.
Here are some of the letters sent to us regarding Lake Albert and the township of Meningie.
Reference material
An Ecosystem Assessment Framework to Guide Management of the Coorong, (6MB), July 2009, Coorong,Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth (CLLAMM)
State government announcement to stop pumping water into Lake Albert, June 2009