Freshwater Lake was constructed in the 1970s as a key water feature of the West Lakes Delfin Island Development. It was built to the standards of that era and requires a high level of ongoing maintenance due to its unique design, structure and age.

Given the high level of ongoing maintenance needed and the resources this requires, the City of Charles Sturt worked with our community to investigate an option to best support and manage the Lake now and into the future.

It is recognised Freshwater Lake and Reserve are incredibly important to our community and these works will maintain the lake in its current form with improvements to enhance the lake performance and quality, operations and management.

Improving Water Quality in Freshwater Lake

In consideration of the outcomes of the lake investigations and community consultation Council endorsed the decision to implement an off-line treatment (Option 2A), integrating the Waterproofing the West and the existing wetland system.

The general water process circulation flow is as follows:

• Water is drawn from the aquifer at Corcoran bore and piped into Freshwater Lake Water (as is the current practice).
• The lake water then flows through the lakes and exits through the overflow channel and then flows through the existing Corcoran Reserve settling ponds which will be re-engineered to enhance capacity and and improve water quality. (Note these ponds currently hold water for a short period, and under this proposal will return to being permanent water bodies).
• Water is then pumped from the Corcoran Reserve settling ponds to the bioremediation wetlands in West Lakes Golf Course and Cooke Reserve where it is treated and pumped into the aquifer for re-use.