| Lake Albert | |
|---|---|
| Lake Albert seen from Meningie | |
| Location | South Australia |
| Primary inflows | Murray River |
| Basin countries | Australia |
| Shore length1 | Sandy |
| Islands | Nil |
| Settlements | Closest to Meningie S.A |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Lake Albert () is a notionally fresh water lake near the mouth of the Murray River. It is filled by water flowing in from 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. The lake was named after Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the Consort of Queen Victoria.
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.[1] The possibility of flooding the lake with seawater to prevent acidification has been raised, and there is tension between South Australia and the upstream states over how to share the dwindling supply of water.[2]
The lake forms part of the 1300 km2 Lakes Alexandrina and Albert Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International because it regularly 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.[3]