City of Greater Bendigo Whipstick ward councillor James Williams said he had requested a report on the issue from council staff “some time ago”.

“We will work with community groups to get some outcomes because it’s a problem that’s exacerbated itself for the last few years,” he said.

“The fixes are not short-term but there are some short-term things we can do and we’ll certainly look at those and we’ll look at the long term as well.”

Bendigo Rowing Club President Peter Morison said he was “very happy” the council was looking into the issue, but with a number of regattas scheduled for between now and mid-April when the season ends, a resolution “can’t be too soon from our point of view”.

“We’ll have schools really cranking up very shortly, schools rowing, and yes we’d like something by then if that’s possible,” he said.

“There’s a whole series of regattas coming up, there’s quite a few of them over the next few months.”

Overall, Mr Morison said he was pleased the council appeared to be taking the issue seriously and remained optimistic a solution could be reached.

“We’re also very happy that they’ve been putting some water in, which they do every year at this time, and that’s helped to make it a bit easier to row, just for a short while anyway,” he said.

Mr Morison said the water level, along with a crowd of ibis now calling the lake home, were also issues of concern for rowers, with the latter potentially providing additional “nutrients in the water” to promote weed growth.

“It hadn't been a problem for the last 12 years and it’s only since the ibis have been there they’ve become a problem and we suspect those things are linked,” he said.

Councillor Williams also nominated the ibis as one of “a number of things we need to look at” in terms of the amenity of the lake.