One Griffith councillor has taken aim at the "unfair criticism" of the city's general manager and mayor regarding the fish deaths at Lake Wyangan and has called on the formation of a body aimed at putting more water into the lake.
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Councillor Dino Zappacosta called for the creation of a body aimed at supporting the lake during a confirmation of the minutes of the last meeting of Griffith City Council at Tuesday's council meeting and said mayor John Dal Broi and general manager Brett Stonestreet were singled out by some members of the community for being at fault for allowing the mass fish deaths to occur at the lake.
A report from the Department of Primary Industries indicated there was insufficient evidence to determine a single cause and suggested there was a "strong possibility" the deaths were caused by a disturbance of sulfidic sediments from inflows to the lake.
"I been quite perturbed over the last week or two since the result came in of the reaction by some people in the community," Cr Zappacosta said.
"I'd like as a member of council to express my disappointment that you and our general manager have been singled out on unfair criticism over what has happened out at the lake ... we have a community committee, we have councillors [who] are on that committee, we have various other committees and people whose area of expertise [is] looking after the lake.
"As far as I'm concerned this council has done a lot there at the lake in the last couple of years since this committee has been actioned ... whilst council has done its' bit and as trustee of land around the lake - we have no control, nothing to do with the water in the lake itself and this worries me."
Councillor Dal Broi said he took issue with some of the criticism as it showed a lack of knowledge about how council operates.
"Some of the criticism disturbs me because it's unfounded," Cr Dal Broi said.
"I think what it highlights is that some members in our community have no understanding of how local government operates - through a committee system reporting back to the council and then council adopts those minutes."
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Cr Zappacosta said the lake needs to have more water in it and called on council to work with Murrumbidgee Irrigation and Water NSW to ensure there is enough water in the lake so future issues could be avoided.
"The fish kill may be attributed to various factors but I think until such time that bodies such as council, Murrumbidgee Irrigation and even the state government through Water NSW come to terms that we need that lake to have more water in it," Cr Zappacosta said.
"That lake should have never ever have been as low as it is at the moment and it's a shame that we've had to lose some of our native fish there ... I have mentioned in the past that we should liaise quite closely with Murrumbidgee Irrigation regarding the future use of that lake - to have water put into it or water taken out of it - and unless we get a committee together - even if it's a trust of the three bodies comprising of the state, local and MI ... I think we're going to spend a lot of our money doing up the water quality which may not come to any benefit at all.
"I urge that you proceed quickly with getting a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) or something between us and Murrumbidgee Irrigation and even state water to come to terms with how we must have water in that lake."
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Cr Dal Broi said the committee for Lake Wyangan was charged to control blue-green algae and while they "haven't been terribly successful at it", moves were being made to work better with Murrumbidgee Irrigation and the state government.
"There have already been moves and it's been going on for a while to have a relationship with MI," Cr Dal Broi said.
"Griffith City Council does not control the southern lake and that is the control of Murrumbidgee Irrigation - and we will persue that absolutely ... over the years we have approached the Murray Darling Basin Authority to put water into the lake as an environmental lake and we were knocked back.
"We really have to talk to each other."