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Government of Western Australia Department of Water and Environmental Regulation
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Home Show Sub Nav
Planning for the future Show Sub Nav
Finding water Finding Water

Finding new water resources, including Royalties for Regions-funded programs and other drilling programs to explore resources across the state.

Water allocation plans Photo from consultation for the Gingin groundwater allocation plan

Information about allocation plans, which set out how much water can be reliably taken from groundwater and surface water sources for productive purposes while ensuring the sustainability of the resource and protection of the water-dependent environment.

Meeting demand 1.3.1 Crop irrigation

Information about ensuring sustainable water supplies for the state’s population and industries, including the Water for Growth and Water for Food programs.

Rural water support Rural Assistance

Click here to apply for rebates and grants for farmers, pastoralists and rural communities to improve local water supplies and for information about assistance to help farmers access water during dry seasons.

Flood planning and mapping Meeting demand

Information, advice and management of flood plans based on flood behaviour research and floodplain mapping for the state's major rivers.

Water and land use planning Narrows Bridge

Integrated water and land use planning based on the principles of total water cycle management.

Innovation

The Department of Water invites you to share your ideas on creating innovative solutions to water challenges.

Licensing Show Sub Nav
Water licensing Water Licensing

Licences and how to apply, licensing policies, forms to download and answers to questions frequently asked by current and prospective licensees.

Water trading Water Trading

Find out who is eligible to trade water entitlements and how applications are assessed. Click here to identify potential trading partners from the Water Register.

Metering and measurement

Metering and measuring the water you take helps you understand your water usage to make the most of your entitlements and reduce your overall costs.

Water licensing fees

New fees for water licence and permit applications are being introduced to the mining and public water supply sectors from the 13 November 2018, post

Legislation Show Sub Nav
Current legislation Current Legislation

Current legislation for which the Department of Water assists the Minister for Water. Click here for current WA legislation.

Water reform

We are updating our policy and legislation to deliver water resource management legislation that is flexible, progressive and capable of managing water today and in the future.

Urban water Show Sub Nav
Water services Water Services

Legislation and policy for Western Australia’s water service providers.

Urban development Urban Development

Planning and managing water to enable growing, liveable water smart towns and cities.

Drinking water Mundaring Weir

Protecting and managing public drinking water source areas including policies relating to public drinking water source areas, water source protection plans, water quality strategies and management and review processes.

Recycling and efficiency Recycling

Information about wastewater recycling, water efficiencies and the use of fit-for-purpose water. Recycling is encouraged whenever it is socially, economically and environmentally acceptable to make smart use of waste water for the ongoing development of the State.

Bores Domestic Garden Watering

Garden bores are small domestic groundwater bores for private garden irrigation. Click here for more information about your garden bore, licence exemptions and being ‘bore water-wise’ in your garden.

Water topics Show Sub Nav
Groundwater Ground Water

Information on the state’s groundwater resources, locations, investigations, aquifer recharge and sustainable management of water resources, including an overview of state groundwater investigations.

Surface water Surface Water

Surface water, like rivers and streams used for public water supply, self-supply, irrigation, recreation and hydropower and rainfall and streamflow monitoring, catchment modelling and flood studies to manage surface water.

Water quality Water Quality

Click here for information about water quality, including public drinking water source areas, salinity, brochures, fact sheets and best management practices for various land uses and activities to help protect water quality and public health.

Waterways Rivers and Estuaries

Rivers and estuaries and their importance including information on monitoring and assessing waterways, protecting, understanding, planning, restoring, and risks and threats.

Estuaries

There are 166 estuaries in Western Australia as established through the National Land and Water Resources Audit (NLWRA) 2000, where an estuary is defined as

Irrigation Irrigation

Click here for information on types of irrigators, licenses and the role of irrigation as an economic enabler for industry.

Onshore petroleum and water resources 5.6 Shale_and_tight_gas.jpg

Information on the department’s role in relation to the shale and tight gas industry.

Maps & data Show Sub Nav
Maps Maps

A detailed collection of online atlases and maps with information on the State’s water resources, including depth to groundwater, garden bore suitability, geology and proclaimed management areas.

Monitoring and data Data logger hut

Information and reports collected from the department's extensive State-wide monitoring network, which are provided free for water management, state development and research purposes.

Main
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  • How we manage water resources in a changing climate
  • Finding water
  • Water allocation plans
    • How we develop water allocation plans
    • How we protect our environment
    • How we manage water resources in a changing climate
      • Climate change impacts on the South West
      • Climate trends - Kimberley
      • Climate trends - Pilbara
      • Climate trends - Central West
      • Climate trends - Central
      • Climate trends - South West
      • South West water resources
    • North West region
    • Mid West Gascoyne region
    • Swan–Avon region
    • Kwinana Peel region
    • South West region
    • South Coast region
  • Meeting demand
  • Rural water support
  • Flood planning and mapping
  • Water and land use planning
  • Innovation
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How we manage water resources in a changing climate

We use the latest climate information to assess how the state’s water resources are and may be impacted by climate change in the future.

We do this to:

  • manage for secure and reliable water supplies
  • maintain rivers and wetlands.

Western Australia has been getting hotter since the 1960s and we have experienced changing weather and rainfall trends which impacts on water availability. The south west is getting drier while rainfall across other parts of the state was more variable.

CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology project these trends to continue.

How we use climate models to manage water resources

We use data from global climate models to show how rainfall may change in the future and this informs how we manage Western Australia’s water resources.

While we can’t predict climate or rainfall in each year, we can use climate projections to show a range of possible climate futures at different locations and time horizons (e.g. 2030, 2050, 2070 and 2100).

We use the data to identify the risks of different climate futures to water resources, and this informs our water planning, flood advice and management of water-dependent ecosystems.

Climate trends in Western Australia

Western Australia is a large state with diverse climatic influences and varied weather. We have summarised data from global climate models for different climatic regions – Kimberley, Pilbara, Central, Central West and South West.

The future projections for rainfall for each region are expressed as a percentage change or anomaly relative to the World Meteorological Organisation’s 1961–1990 baseline period.

How confident are we in the future?

Over 90 per cent of the global climate models for the South West and Central West regions suggest a hotter, drier future. Rainfall across the South West and in some areas of the Central West has been steadily declining since the 1960s because of a southward shift of winter storm systems, and a greater frequency of high pressure systems – which usually result in clear skies and light winds.

Scientists at the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO have linked changes in rainfall and temperature in the South West to increasing global temperatures and shifts in atmospheric circulation in the Southern Hemisphere. Scientists from around the world recognise the South West as an area that is highly sensitive to declining winter rainfall because of its latitude and location on the western side of a large landmass.

The global climate model results for the Kimberley, Pilbara, and Central regions, however, vary widely and there is no clear trend from the models towards increasing or decreasing rainfall. Looking to 2030, differences in rainfall from year-to-year are likely to have a more noticeable effect on water resources in these regions compared to a long-term climate shift. The simulations of future climate for these regions are so variable because of the difficulty of modelling the start of the monsoon, the Madden-Julian Oscillation (an eastward pulse of cloud and rainfall near the equator), circulation patterns from the tropics and the effects of rainfall drivers from eastern Australia (like the Southern Annular Mode and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation)

Page last updated - 20 Mar 2019
Quicklinks
  • South West water resources

  • Climate change impacts on the South West

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Useful links

Department of Water and Environmental Regulation – Climate change

Department of Water and Environmental Regulation – Waterways and climate change

CSIRO

Bureau of Meteorology

National Water Initiative – Considering climate change and extreme events in water planning and management

Climate Change in Australia

CSIRO and BoM resource for climate projections and climate science

Earth Sciences and Climate Change Hub

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

Australian Government – Department of the Environment and Energy

Indian Ocean Climate Initiative

The Climate Council of Australia

Climate Commission: The Critical Decade 2013

Climate change impacts for Western Australia

National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility

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The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation was established by the Government of Western Australia on 1 July 2017. It is a result of the amalgamation of the Department of Environment Regulation, Department of Water and the Office of the Environmental Protection Authority. This website/publication may contain references to previous government departments and programs. Please contact the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation to clarify any specific information.

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