This has reduced the visual appeal for visitors, and threatened the aquatic root mat community. Without intervention, the lake would have dried-up for the first time in more than 100 years of tourism visitation.
Subterranean Ecology in partnership with the Augusta Margaret River Tourism Association (AMRTA) and Department of Environment & Conservation, and supported by grants from the Natural Resource Management (NRM) Grant Scheme, initiated the Lake Cave Eco-Hydrology Recovery Project in 2010.
The project has succeeded in controlling the water level decline in Lake Cave by harvesting rainfall on site and using this to supplement natural recharge in the lake. Careful monitoring during the recharge trial has demonstrated no adverse impacts to water quality or stygofauna communities.
A similar investigation to recover groundwater levels is underway in Jewel Cave, where the underground lake and its once famous reflections have already disappeared.