Council have instead decided to open up the opportunity from expressions of interest from a variety of experts. 

The proposal, raised by Councillor Paul Snaidero, would have seen Council meet with Mr Sainty to discuss the details of his plan. 

It may be just as well, Mr Sainty says he’s fed up with the inaction from council and Murrumbidgee Irrigation (MI) and would refuse to work them. 

Mr Sainty says he’s already put his plan into the public domain and has no faith in Council’s willingness to act on them. 

Instead of the initial proposal, a motion put forward by Deputy Mayor Dean Zappacosta opened the matter to the public for expressions of interest, encouraging those with expertise in the area to come forward. 

Mr Sainty has proposed creating a natural wetland habitat on the eastern shore to help fight the Lake’s ongoing blue green algae problem. 

“My plan is simple, straightforward and low-cost. If they’re not able to implement it, then where are we?” Mr Sainty said. 

“It’s a plan they could easily enough to work on themselves. I’m not willing to work with them … Council have been very inactive on this issue,” he said. 

Still, I’m glad something was done at the last council meeting and the issue is moving forward. I hope we can see some action before next summer.”

Geoff Sainty, a recent Order of Australia Medal winner, is considered one of the country’s leading wetlands experts.

Community concerns were raised recently over blood red water flows worsening the water quality. 

Mayor John Dal Broi was among those raising concerns about the $500,000 price tag of Mr Sainty’s proposed fix. 

“When you’re talking these sort of things, it costs a lot of money. In the absence of any substantial and properly costed works, we’re in limbo,” he said. 

“Because it’ll be ratepayers money we’re spending to improve the Lake we have to be diligent and make sure the particular design we adopt will work. I’d hate to spend a million dollars and then not have it work.” 

He said Mr Sainty had not put forward any specific types of costing.

“It doesn’t give any dimensions. He just speaks about a 20-15 megalitres of water circulating in the lake,” Cr Dal Broi said. 

Mayor Dal Broi confirmed he would be willing to work with Mr Sainty if he put forward an expression of interest. 

According to Griffith City Council, Lake Wyangan is currently sits at an amber alert, but Mr Sainty has also called that into question. He says the current rating is based on limited, selective samples – and daily sampling could reveal even higher levels of algae. 

“Lake Wyangan is actually made up of two different lakes. There is the north lake and the lake,” he said. 

Mr Sainty said costings were a simple solution that Griffith City Council could put forward themselves. 

When asked if much money had been spent on the ongoing maintenance of Lake Wyangan over the last year, Cr Dal Broi replied “not a lot of money in that aspect”. 

“We spent in excess of $100,000 to have reputable consultants look at the lake they were reputable, professors in that regard. It was a very comprehensive report and it does go into how we can rectify it,” he said. 

At Tuesday’s council meeting Councillor Brian Simpson said over $200,000 had been spent trying to fix the issue. 

“In the last season approximately $200,000 of ratepayers water was put into the lake to help reduce the blue-green algae problem,” he said. 

Mr Sainty has said says council and MI have “wasted a lot of money on expensive consultancy reports that provide no real solutions”.

Cr Dal Broi has previously said the Council General Manager Brett Stonestreet has recommended a project officer be employed to explore avenues to improve water quality over three years. 

Last week, Cr Dal Broi outlined steps being taken to improve water quality within the Lake, including the use of  ultrasound devices in south Lake Wyangan to test the control of algal outbreaks. 

Mr Sainty says the devices are “useless”. 

“The lake is far too big for such devices to work. It’s using a mechanical method to do something that should be done ecologically [by using wetland plants]”.