Lake Albert Upgrades

Lake Albert is one of Wagga's popular recreational destinations, offering a range of facilities for all boat and recreational users.

Over the past ten years, Wagga Wagga City Council has been working to implement a range of recommendations in the Lake Albert Management Plan 2009-2015 (PDF, 1.2 MB).

Some of these completed projects include:

• Bosley Park Amenities Upgrade
• Bosley Park Erosion Remediation
• Stringybark Creek Remediation
• Crooked Creek Remediation
• Apex park upgrades
• Foreshore erosion works
• A full list of works from the Management Plan can be found in the works schedule(External link).

In recent times, Lake Albert has been impacted by low water levels and increasing frequency of Blue Green Algae outbreaks. Council is currently working with the community to develop and implement strategies to address these issues.

These strategies identified will be included in the revised Lake Albert Management Plan along with other strategic actions in regards to management of Lake Albert. The draft Lake Albert Management Plan will be completed mid 2018 and be placed on public exhibition to receive community feedback.

Updates on the progress of the plan and other projects at Lake Albert will be posted on this website.

How much water can the lake hold?

The Lake Albert Management Plan estimates that when full, the Lake represents a storage volume of around 4,000 megalitres.

How is the lake filled?

The two primary sources for filling Lake Albert are:

• Crooked Creek to the South East - partially diverted from 1902, and permanently diverted into the Lake in 1969/70.
• Stringybark Creek to the South West - partially diverted in 1932 and permanently diverted into the Lake in 1977

Under average rainfall conditions, the catchment area has the ability to generate an inflow of more than twice the volume of water stored in the Lake.

Once the catchment area to the south of the Lake is saturated, these two sources can fill the Lake in a relatively short timeframe.

Recent works have been undertaken on these waterways to improve the quality of the water entering the Lake.

Has anything changed recently?

Previous soil erosion works have been undertaken in the catchment feeding the Lake. The catchment now needs significant rainfall to saturate the catchment before the creek system will begin to flow.

Where does the water go?

The main source of water loss is evaporation.

Normal evaporation losses are 1000 mm in an average year and up to 1500 mm in a drought year. This is equivalent to half the Lake’s capacity in a dry year.