Jettisoned: A jetty leading out into a dry Lake Cooper at Corop, which Goulburn-Murray Water says will not be filled.
Rodney Senior describes it as “the water ski club without water”.
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Lake Cooper is located at Corop, midway between Shepparton and Bendigo on the Midland Hwy, only two hours from Melbourne.
It has a large clubroom, with kitchen, bar, toilets, showers and change rooms.
There is a caravan park with on-site cabins and an in-ground pool.
There is a triple boat ramp, judges’ tower and plenty of parking for boats, competitors and spectators.
The one thing it does not have is water.
Mr Senior believed with a turn of the tap the water could flow and water skiers could have a safe, permanent place to call home, which it already was, in a sense.
“Victorian Water Ski Association still lease the land off, I think the Department of Environment, but can’t water ski because there’s no water in it,” Mr Senior said.
He said, though, that places water skiers could go were dwindling, and had been for some time.
“I first learnt to water ski when I was eight years old and back then my family had lots of lakes to choose from, including Shepparton Lake (Victoria Park Lake), Lake Nagambie, Lake Mokoan, Lake Mulwala, Waranga Basin, Greens Lake and Lake Cooper.
“Fifty years later only two of these lakes can be used for water skiing, Lake Mulwala and Waranga Basin, but when the wind is greater than 15 knots those two lakes are unsuitable for water skiing safely.”
He said there was no longer skiing on Victoria Park Lake in Shepparton, Lake Nagambie had a rowing course on it and speed limits, Lake Mokoan had been returned to wetlands and Lake Mulwala and Waranga Basin had safety issues.
“Lake Mulwala is part of the Murray River system. The issue with the Murray River is that's where everyone goes: wake-boarders, jet skiers, ski racers, water skiers, learn-to-skiers,” he said.
“We're all using the same river and it's bloody dangerous, and I've experienced some of the danger because I'm using my boat there, but I would not take my grandchildren to learn to ski there.
“Waranga Basin, you can still ski there, but it’s too bloody big.
“It’s the fourth biggest lake in Victoria and it’s just enormous and when wind conditions get above 10 knots up to 15 knots you can’t ski on the lake.”
Mr Senior said water skiers were desperate for a place they could call home and hold regular events.
He has suggested instead of storing water in Waranga Basin, from where water was now being released because the level was getting too high, it be stored in Lake Cooper.
“Then we would have a venue where you can have a wake-boarding event this weekend, a jet skiing event this weekend, a ski race this weekend, we could have tournament skiing, we could have a learn-to-ski day,” he said.
Just add water: The Victorian Water Ski Association clubhouse at Lake Cooper.
“The facilities are all there.
“The fact is, the facilities there would now cost millions (of dollars).
“It would be a $3 million or $4 million project to build what they’ve done.”
The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning manages Lake Cooper and its facilities while nearby Greens Lake was previously part of Goulburn-Murray Water’s irrigation network.
G-MW water resources manager Mark Bailey said the two lakes were unlikely to be filled in the near future.
“The removal of Greens Lake from G-MW’s irrigation network means the storage has returned to its natural watering regime,” Dr Bailey said.
“It will be wetter in wet years and drier in dry years.
“G-MW’s core role is to harvest, store and deliver water for its customers and entitlement holders who own water.
“As Lake Cooper is not part of G-MW’s irrigation network, delivering water to it would reduce the amount of water available to our customers and increase prices.”
Dr Bailey said removing the lake from the irrigation network saved its customers hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in operating costs.
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