Allocation planning is an important part of managing water use. Allocation planning involves deciding how much water is available from a particular resource or area, how much water can be taken and how it should be accessed.
Allocation planning allows us to balance the water demands of competing users - such as the public, industry and agriculture - with what the environment needs.
A number of allocation plans have already been developed, or are underway, across the state. Please click on the links on the right.
The allocation planning process
Allocation planning can be a complex task. The level of detail that feeds into each water management plan depends on the size of the resource and its current and/or future demands. This means that the Department of Water may put more time and resources into a plan for an over-allocated resource with many competing demands, as opposed to one that has low use and low competition.
We generally develop plans according to three major phases. In some cases these phases are not consecutive and we can be doing a number of activities at any stage.
Phase A: Collect information
This phase involves building our understanding about the water resources.
We gather information such as how much water is present in the system; what the demands are on the water resources; and how much people value the resources in terms of social use, cultural importance, or economic output.
As part of completing this phase we develop a range of documents including hydrogeology reports, hydrology summaries and issue scoping studies.
Phase B: Decide water availability
This phase involves decision-making based on the information gathered in the first phase.
Once we understand how much water resource exists in the system(s), how the resource is valued, and how much demand there is, we are able to make assumptions about the water availability. Allocation limits take into account how much water is available, what the environment needs, and demand.
Phase C: Specify management actions
Once we have decided how much water is available and set our allocation limits, we specify management actions to ensure the resources are managed according to best practices.
This includes details on monitoring the resources, monitoring use, assessing environmental targets, and evaluating the success of the allocation limits and the water management plan itself.
Working with our community and stakeholders
Stakeholders will have opportunities to participate into the plan's development by:
- contributing to the issue scoping and social values assessments
- ensuring that the management framework reflects issues raised in the scoping phase
- commenting on the content of the draft plan.
Improving our water planning practices
We have recently received $15 million from the Australian Government water fund under the Water Smart Australia program. This funding is being used for new investigations into the state's four priority areas Collie, Gnangara, Pilbara and South West groundwater. The investigations will culminate in statutory water management plans for these high-profile areas.
More information can be found on the Water Smart Australia website.
Further information
For further information on individual areas, please visit the linked sites above. Alternatively email allocation.planning@water.wa.gov.au or call the Water Allocation Planning Branch on (08) 6364 6587.