Two new projects will shed light on how to improve water quality in Lake Tuggeranong and the ACT's urban ponds and wetlands, with the research behind them described as "world-leading".
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Up to 5000 water samples from across Canberra will be analysed at the University of Canberra over the next 18 months as part of the projects, which are jointly funded by the Australian and ACT governments as part of the $93.5 million ACT Healthy Waterways Project.
The results will be used to determine where the nutrients that cause poor water quality, including blue-green algae, come from, and how they behave once they are in the waterways.
Dr Fiona Dyer, a senior research fellow at the university's Institute for Applied Ecology, said the projects had local, national and worldwide implications.
"How we manage urban water is a major international issue, so the work that we're doing around the ponds in Lake Tuggeranong, we can apply to the catchments in Lake Ginninderra and Lake Burley Griffin," she said.
"It will also inform people around the world about what we have learned about the way in which these systems behave, which will answer much bigger questions. In a way, it is [world-leading]".
ACT Senator Zed Seselja and ACT Environment Minister Mick Gentleman visited university labs, where they helped carry out water quality tests, on Friday afternoon.
Mr Gentleman said some of the results of the urban stormwater ponds project, which is running alongside the Lake Tuggeranong research, were already on display.
"Upper Stranger Pond was an incredibly muddy pond, and 2.5 tonnes of carp was removed from there," he said.
"The water has been refreshed and we've introduced new animal species - 10,000 Murray cod and 10,000 perch fingerlings.
"The water is crystal clear and it has changed completely the amenity of that area, which will eventually flow down into the Murrumbidgee as well."
Senator Seselja said the federal government's $76 million investment would make "a real difference" for Canberrans, and eventually all Australians.
"This is important nationally because [Canberra waterways flow into] the Murray-Darling basin, but it's also important locally," he said.
"We know that Canberrans really value the amenity of these waterways, and we know that they haven't always been up to scratch.
"As a Canberran, I really want to see our waterways clean and pristine. I want to be able to swim and kayak in them, but nationally, it's also very important because it's part of a larger system."
