Case study

Lake Albert, Wagga Wagga

A 125 hectare lake that a council had spent more than a decade trying to keep open. Five units went in during February 2025. This is what the independent testing found over the thirteen months that followed, including the January 2026 closure and reopening.

A Hydro2050 cabinet on the shore of Lake Albert at dusk, the lake flat and clear behind it

The film

Three minutes and eight seconds. Hydro2050's own account of the lake, the problem and the system that was put into it. Nothing loads until you press play.

The lake

Lake Albert is an artificial lake of 125 hectares at Wagga Wagga in New South Wales. It carries water sports, fishing, walking and bird watching, and the Boat Club and the Wagga Wagga Country Club golf course both sit on it.

It also blooms. Cyanobacteria, blue-green algae, which can be toxic, returned often enough that the lake was closed to recreational use for stretches of the summer, the months it is most wanted. Hydro2050's own account of the project puts the cost of those closures at an estimated thirty million dollars a year to the local economy.

Wagga Wagga Council had been at this for over a decade. Copper sulfate, enzymes and sonic resonance had all been tried. The blooms kept coming back, worst in peak summer.

A council warning sign at the water's edge beside water discoloured green by an algal bloom — The condition the trial was asked to fix. Warning signage at the lake edge with a bloom against the bank.

What went in, and where

Wagga Wagga Council engaged Hydro2050 for an initial six month trial. Five Hydro systems were deployed in February 2025, at the five points around the lake where the blooms had historically been strongest.

The system generates oxygen and ozone on site from the air, and injects them into ultra-fine bubbles of less than one micron. Below that size the bubbles do not rise and break at the surface. They stay in suspension, carry a negative charge, and spread through the water body. The ozone breaks back down to oxygen, so nothing is left in the water to remove.

A map of Lake Albert with five circles marking the treatment sites around its perimeter — The five deployment points, from the client's progress report.

A Hydro2050 cabinet installed on the eastern shore of Lake Albert, lines running down the bank into the water — A unit in place on the eastern side, April 2026. Lines run down the bank into the lake.

The first summer

The lake was blooming while the units were being installed. It came under control quickly after they started, and the photographs taken in February and March 2025 are the same three locations a month apart.

The northern corner channel of Lake Albert, the water opaque and bright green with a cyanobacteria bloom — February 2025. Northern corner channel, thick cyanobacteria bloom, before the units were operating.

The same northern corner channel, the green gone and the water back to its natural colour — March 2025. The same channel with the system running. No bloom.

Drone view of the northern channel, a bright green bloom filling the water beside the road bridge — February 2025. The northern channel from the air.

Drone view of the same channel and bridge with no visible bloom — March 2025. The same view, one month on.

The Boat Club corner of Lake Albert, the shallows green with algae beside a Hydro2050 cabinet — February 2025. Boat Club corner, cyanobacteria present.

The Boat Club corner with clear water and the far shore reflected in it — March 2025. Boat Club corner, no bloom, system in operation.

Six months in, the council extended the trial. By November 2025, nine months of treatment, the counts had gone below the lowest band on the guideline scale.

Lake Albert at dusk with waterbirds on the surface and a person and child at the water's edge

What was measured, and by whom

Sampling was done at three points, the Boat Club, Lake West and the Swimming Area, and the samples went to ALS, an independent laboratory. The measure is a total blue-green algae cell count in cells per millilitre.

One man in a straw hat working at the edge of Lake Albert with a hand tool, beside marker flags and hose lines, the lake bed exposed by low water — Relocating equipment at the Boat Club in January 2026, the new outer-buoy position beside the original one, with the water well back from its usual line. Hydro2050 progress report, 14 January 2026 update.

Cyanobacteria event brought under control

The Hydro2050 systems kept Lake Albert virtually free of cyanobacteria from installation in March 2025 through to December 2025. In comparison, Lake Albert had previously experienced cyanobacteria blooms during hot and cooler months.

In December 2025, cyanobacteria levels began to rise. Investigation showed that vandalism had cut gas lines on two units and that declining lake levels caused by drought conditions had temporarily reduced the effectiveness of some Hydro2050 equipment.

This equipment downtime corresponded with the significant cyanobacteria bloom spike in early January 2026, a very hot month. Hydro equipment was repaired and relocated to deeper water in mid-January 2026, after which cyanobacteria blooms were quickly brought under control both visually and by cell count. With the equipment fully operational, cyanobacteria levels were maintained at safe levels for the remainder of the 2026 summer.

Line chart headed Lake Albert cyanobacteria case study summer 2025 to 26. Counts at Lake West, Boat Club and Swim Area sit on the floor of the scale from early September to late December, climb through early January 2026 to a Boat Club peak above 180,000 cells per millilitre on 19 January, and fall back under the green alert line from early February to the end of March. Green, amber and red alert lines are drawn at 500, 5,000 and 50,000 cells per millilitre.

Cyanobacteria alert level guide

No alert

Below 500 cells/mL

Green alert

500 to 5,000 cells/mL

Amber alert

5,000 to 50,000 cells/mL

Red alert

Above 50,000 cells/mL

The January 2026 closure and reopening

Between late December 2025 and mid January 2026 the counts climbed from green to amber and the lake was closed. Three things happened at once.

The lake dropped. A hot, dry summer pulled the water back far enough that units sitting in what had been deep water were in shallows, or out of the water altogether. Less water also means less dilution, so the nutrients that feed a bloom concentrate.

Equipment was tampered with. On inspection the gas lines had been cut in two places, so no gas was reaching the water, and someone had made a sustained attempt to pull the electrical conduit out of the cabinet. The air lines have since been run inside conduit to make them harder to reach.

The weather did what it does. Very hot air, warm water, and a concentrated nutrient load are the conditions cyanobacteria want.

Hydro2050 went back between 10 and 12 January with new pumps and longer power cables, 60 metres at the Boat Club, Lake West and Lake East, 45 metres at the north and a second run at the Swimming Area, so every unit could be moved into deeper water. A sixth unit went in temporarily at the Swimming Area, where the count was worst at 32,469 cells per millilitre.

The lake was closed just after that work finished. Reopening required two consecutive tests below red. The 27 January test came back amber, the 3 February test came back green at an average of 704 cells per millilitre, and the lake reopened on 6 February 2026.

From the 8 January peak to the 3 February green reading is twenty-six days. The remedial work finished on 12 January, so the recovery took a further twenty-two days from there to the first green reading, through an amber test on 27 January at an average of 11,168 cells per millilitre.

Wagga Wagga Council decision, continuation of the Hydro2050 system

Hydro Lake Restoration System had demonstrated success in keeping Lake Albert healthy and open to the public during peak demand times and clear throughout the remainder of the year.

The cyanobacteria trial reduced bloom risk, kept the lake usable, demonstrated rapid recovery, and showed the need for continuous operation. Based on the success of the 12 month Hydro trial, and the limitations of previous approaches, Wagga Wagga Council has contracted Hydro2050 on a long-term basis to maintain Lake Albert's water quality and control cyanobacteria blooms.

Benefits for councils experiencing poor water quality issues

For other councils with water bodies experiencing harmful algal blooms, the Lake Albert trial highlights several practical benefits.

Reduced risk of recreational closures during peak summer periods
Improved protection for residents, visitors, pets and wildlife
A non-chemical treatment approach suitable for public waterways
Rapid response capability if cyanobacteria levels rise
A long-term operating model that can be adapted to lakes, ponds, reservoirs and other managed water bodies

Dams, lakes and ponds

Lake Albert is one lake. The same problem sits in a lot of standing water.

The case studies page carries nine others, including three more South Australian water bodies, and every one of them now has a page of its own.

See the case studies