LAKE Lonsdale Action Group is calling on the Andrews State Government to provide an allocation of water to boost the current ailing water level.
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President Ray Howard has written to the Northern Grampians Shire Council, urging it to lobby the Andrews government as a matter of priority, to ensure an allocation for Lake Lonsdale is on the agenda.
Mr Howard said with the allocation made recently to Toolondo Reservoir near Horsham, there was no reason why a similar allocation could not be made to Lonsdale to boost its water level and protect fish stocks.
"With the allocation of 5,000 megalitres of water into lake Toolondo, it is hoped that the new Andrews Government is taking into consideration the importance of angling and its contribution to the community," Mr Howard said.
"Like Toolondo, Lake Lonsdale, which is presently holding just 2,010 ML or four per cent of capacity, is also in dire needs of a top up of water from Lake Bellfield. We urge council to immediately lobby the new government to supply enough water into the lake to retain environmental aspects of the lake and to save fish kills."
Mr Howard said he had concerns over the way in which the water was delivered to Toolondo.
"Unfortunately we have some concerns in relation to the new government's pre-election platform to support anglers such as the Toolondo water top up," Mr Howard said.
"Firstly the Labor Party promised the supply of water into the lake if they won the election, which they did. Unfortunately, it was paid for by a mining company, not supplied by the Andrews Government. So who is going to pay for the next lot of water, as Lake Toolondo can only be filled by channel from Rocklands Reservoir?
"Secondly who is paying for the 5000 - 6000 ML of water that Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWMW) is currently channeling into Lake Fyans? Why does Toolondo have to be paid for but not Fyans?
"Another point is when the previous government came into office, they filled Green Lake for no cost. The current situation with recreational water is a complete shambles.
"We urge council to lobby the new Premier and Water Minister as to the importance that recreational water is to local communities, not only the social and environmental aspects, but also the economic and tourism benefits associated with recreational water."
Mr Howard said while the Grampians region is a major tourist area in Victoria, it was disappointing that the state's magnificent lakes are not promoted enough.
"We have the infrastructure to accommodate the angling tourist already in place, as we are already a tourist destination," Mr Howard said.
"We have lakes such as Lonsdale, Fyans, Bellfield, Wartook, Taylors, Toolondo and Rocklands in the Grampians area. These lakes could be used to stock fish such as bass, estuary perch, Macquarie perch, as well as the Murray cod, trout, catfish, golden and silver perch and redfin that we now offer to anglers.
"Angling is a billion dollar industry with more than 750,000 anglers in Victoria alone. This is a huge industry that we have the potential to tap into. The only thing stopping us from establishing a fishing tourist precinct is the current operational rules of lakes Lonsdale, Bellfield and Toolondo.
"We have the capacity to have the best inland fishery in the state, but to do so we need to guarantee a minimum useable supply of recreational water to both lakes Lonsdale and Toolondo, and to also allow restricted operation of power boats on lake Bellfield."
Mr Howard said authorities would only need to look at what water is being kept within the system at various other lakes, to know there is enough for all regions to share. He also challenged where all the water had gone that had been saved as a result of the new Wimmera Mallee Pipeline.
"The mean annual flow of the Wimmera Basin is 316,400ml which supplies water to lakes Wartook, Lonsdale, Fyans and Bellfield," Mr Howard said.
"The Rocklands Basin also has a mean annual inflow of 112,500ml. With the construction of the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline (WMP), the water saving was 102,000ml annually. So where has this water gone to? As well as the water saved from the recent buyout of irrigation leases?
"Local communities have not benefited from these savings. It is now time that not only GWMWater and the government addressed the importance that recreational water has with the social, recreational, tourism and environmental aspects to local communities, but also the economic benefits as well.
"To highlight this aspect, Linqage International did an Economic Input into the regional economy of Lake Fyans when water levels were low during the Millennium Drought. The Total Direct Economic Input was then $4.095 million and a total direct and indirect economic input of $12 million.
"The economic input into the region from Lake Fyans when the increases of water levels in 2011 were significant, indicated a Total Direct Economic Input of $7.776 million with a Total Direct and Indirect Input of $23.3 million.
"This is near a 100% increase and clearly shows the importance of recreational water to our local communities. Not only is this a very significant increase in our economy, but also it creates much needed jobs.
"Do we now need to ask the Government to do an economic survey into recreational water into our region? We ask council to consider this proposal and to take this up with our new Government."