Lake Albert (South Australia)

Lake Albert
Lake Albert seen from Meningie
Location	South Australia
Coordinates	35°37′S 139°18′E / 35.617°S 139.300°E / -35.617; 139.300Coordinates: 35°37′S 139°18′E / 35.617°S 139.300°E / -35.617; 139.300
Primary inflows	Murray River
Basin countries	Australia
Shore length1	Sandy
Islands	Bascombe Island
Settlements	Meningie, Narrung
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Lake Albert is a notionally fresh water lake near the mouth of the Murray River in South Australia. It is filled by water flowing in from the larger 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. Lakes Alexandrina and Albert are together known as the Lower Lakes.

The lake was named after Prince Albert, the Consort of Queen Victoria, by the Governor, George Gawler.

The full extent of Lake Albert was gazetted as a ‘rural locality’ along with Lake Alexandrina in May 2014. The boundary of the locality of ‘Lake Albert’ with the rural locality of Lake Alexandrina occurs at the alignment of Poltalloch Road within the locality of Poltalloch on the northern side of the Albert Channel which connects both lakes.

Lake Albert is visited regularly by people traveling to and from Melbourne, the Limestone Coast, the Coorong National Park, Tailem Bend, Murray Bridge, and Adelaide.

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. The possibility of flooding the lake with seawater to prevent acidification was raised, and tension remains between South Australia and the upstream states over how to share the dwindling supply of water. To this day the lake remains at significant risk of water loss and high salinity.