New research into water quality in Lake Tuggeranong has found that while new wetlands in catchment areas are helping, more work is needed to address algal blooms.
Two University of Canberra reports released today havefound that the Healthy Waterway infrastructure recently built in Tuggeranong is helping to clean stormwater flows entering the lake.
The research also found that more work is needed to solve Lake Tuggeranong’s algal blooms.
The lake is an important area for the Tuggeranong community for recreation and socialising. I’m committed to addressing algal blooms so Lake Tuggeranong can be used year-round.
These findings have provided government with a better understanding of water quality challenges and will help us develop cost-effective, evidence-based solutions.
We will continue to work with UC to investigate how to best mitigate the high nutrient flows.
We will also fund projects to investigate the origins of excessive nutrient loads entering the catchment, as well as projects to plant more aquatic plants to help filter nutrients from the water.
The University of Canberra’s Lake Tuggeranong Research Project was funded through the join ACT-Australian Government Healthy Waterways program.
Twenty individual infrastructure projects were completed through the $93.5 million Healthy Waterways project to improve water quality across the ACT.
The Healthy Waterways project also includes significant education and public awareness campaigns to encourage households and businesses from pouring pollutants into stormwater drains.
