NSW Premier Chris Minns visited Lake Wyangan to round out his visit to Griffith on August 7

During his visit to the Riverina, Mr Minns visited Leeton's SunRice facilities before opening the Southern Industrial Link - and wrapped up his visit with a trip out to Lake Wyangan with tour guide Mrs Dalton to discuss the potential links between the blue-green algae in the lake and Griffith's high rates of the debilitating disease.

Griffith, Wagga and Leeton record seven times the national average rate of the degenerative disease, and researchers have long suspected a link to blue-green algae however research on potential links stalled without funding.

"We don't want this as a health hazard, we want it as something that's great for the community, which it was," Mrs Dalton said.

"The two million will go a long way towards finding out the cause of MND ... but we're not the only waterway ... We're not silly people, we should be able to fix it."

She speculated on potential causes of the link, including stagnant water

Mr Minns admired the lake before discussing what could be done to address the many issues plaguing the waterway - including high salt levels, periods of very low oxygen and of course, the algae.

"It's good to see it up close, it's really lovely," he said.

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He particularly commented on the potential of using the lake for recreation and sport, including rowing competitions that took place in the past.

Mrs Dalton spoke on potential small fixes like adding water plants to act as filtration, but emphasised that fixing the lake in the long-term would take more effort and funding from a wide range of sources.

Mrs Dalton added that she had approached Deakin University about conducting further research and had an enthusiastic response from the university but hadn't finalised anything.

Two million dollars from the state government has been invested in researching causes behind Motor Neurone Disease, but much remains unknown. Just ten per cent of cases are currently thought to be genetic - with the rest coming from environmental or lifestyle factors.

Macquarie University's Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Research is currently investigating links between blue-green algae and the disease, and other potential causes.

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