Lake Albert (South Australia)
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| Lake Albert | |
|---|---|
| File:MeningieLakeAlbert.JPG
Lake Albert seen from Meningie
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| Location | South Australia |
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Primary inflows | Murray River |
| Basin countries | Australia |
| Shore length1 | Sandy |
| Islands | Bascombe Island[1] |
| Settlements | Meningie, Narrung |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Lake Albert is a notionally fresh water lake near the mouth of the Murray River in South Australia. It is filled by water flowing in from the larger Lake Alexandrina at its mouth near Narrung. It is separated on the south by the Narrung Peninsula from the salt-water Coorong. The only major town on the lake is Meningie. Lakes Alexandrina and Albert are together known as the Lower Lakes.
Contents
Name
The lake was named after Prince Albert, the Consort of Queen Victoria by the Governor, George Gawler.[2]
Tourism
Lake Albert is visited regularly by people traveling to and from Melbourne, the Limestone Coast, the Coorong National Park, Tailem Bend, Murray Bridge, and Adelaide. Visitors enjoy fishing, camping, bushwalking, 4WD tracks, bird watching, water sports, and many land-based sporting clubs such as lawn bowls, cricket, football, netball, tennis, croquet, shooting, motorcycling, karate, pony riding, and golf in the Township of Meningie.
Water problems
Because there are no significant tributaries and a high evaporation rate, Lake Albert is saltier than Lake Alexandrina. It is also smaller and not as deep, but it is more protected from the elements. In 2008, water levels in Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert became so low that large quantities of acid sulphate soils started to form.[3] The possibility of flooding the lake with seawater to prevent acidification was raised, and tension remains between South Australia and the upstream states over how to share the dwindling supply of water.[4] To this day the lake remains at significant risk of water loss and high salinity.[5]
Flora and fauna
Birds
Lake Albert supports critically endangered orange-bellied parrots, endangered Australasian bitterns, vulnerable fairy terns, as well as over 1% of the world populations of Cape Barren geese, Australian shelducks, great cormorants and sharp-tailed sandpipers.[6]
Protected area status
Australian government
Lake Albert is part of the wetland complex known as the Coorong and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert Wetland which is listed as a Ramsar site. The wetland is also appears in the non-statutory list known as A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia.[7][8]
Non-statutory arrangements
Lake Albert is included within the boundary of the Lakes Alexandrina and Albert Important Bird Area which is an area considered by BirdLife International to be a place of ‘international significance for the conservation of birds and other biodiversity.’[6][9]
See also
References
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