About 1000 schoolchildren took to the waters in Lake Burley Griffin at the weekend despite dire warnings that the water had unsafe levels of blue-green algae.
The National Capital Authority was so worried about the health risks to the young rowers its chief executive turned up on the banks of the lake on Sunday morning to personally try to stop the Independent Schools Rowing Association regatta.
But the ACT Rowing Association opted to continue, even amid warnings of unacceptably high levels of algae in the water.
After tests last week, the authority closed the lake for all recreational activities that involved contact with the water, and by Thursday had gone as far as turning off the Captain Cook Memorial water jet, and all irrigation activities that involved water from the lake.
Acting executive director of population health in the ACT John Woollard said yesterday while people were unlikely to die from ingesting blue-green algae, they would become sick, and even minimal skin contact could cause rashes.
He said ACT Health often advised the authority on public health issues, and tests taken last week showed levels that were outside the accepted recreational guidelines.
''The bottom line is the advice was at a national level, and there should not have been recreational activities in the lake,'' he said.
The authority's acting chief executive, Gary Rake, told The Canberra Times he received a call late on Saturday night from Mr Woollard, urging the authority to redouble its efforts in warning people not to swim in the lake.
Mr Rake said he spoke to organisers of the dragon boat race event, which was planned as part of the National Multicultural Festival on Sunday.
Event organisers agreed immediately to cancel the race, even though it meant sending away hundreds of people from Canberra and interstate who had been hoping to compete.
He also spoke on the phone to the executive officer of the ACT Rowing Association, Simon Tulloch, who indicated the schools regatta would go ahead regardless of the heightened warnings.
Mr Tulloch said the mitigation measures that had been put in place for the regatta, including medical experts and enough fresh water to douse anyone who came into contact with lake water, were appropriate.
Mr Rake then took the step of attending the event personally on Sunday morning to urge organisers to cancel the race.
As Mr Tulloch was not present, he spoke to a referee while a race involving Year 8 students was in progress, and was again told measures in place were sufficient.
Mr Tulloch said yesterday the association had put some thought into protecting against the adverse effects of contact with blue-green algae, and had decided to proceed based on its own advice and knowledge of the problem.
He said the association had notified all the schools involved, and none had expressed any particular concern about allowing their teams to compete.
There have so far been no reports of any regatta participants falling ill.
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