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Government of Western Australia Department of Water and Environmental Regulation
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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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  • Planning for the future
  • Water allocation plans
  • How we manage water resources in a changing climate
  • South West water resources
  • 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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South West water resources

South West water resources

Streamflow, dam inflows and regional groundwater levels have been declining across the South West since the 1960s. The effects of decreasing rainfall on ground and surface water resources varies with location. Some of the worst affected areas are those with clay soil covered in forest such as the Blackwood Plateau. Some of the least affected areas are locations with sandy soils, high water tables and no perennial vegetation like parts of the Swan and Scott Coastal Plains (CSIRO, 2009).

South West drinking water

The South West’s drinking water supply is delivered by two water service providers – Bunbury Water Corporation (Aqwest) and Busselton Water (Corporation) , which abstract approximately 6.5 GL/year  and 5.2 GL/year of groundwater, respectively. In 2016/17, Aqwest and Busselton Water delivered drinking water to 17 273 and 13 174 customers (properties), respectively.

Over the next fifty years, demand for drinking water supply across the South West may more than double from 12 GL/year to nearly 30 GL/year. The Water Corporation, in conjunction with Aqwest and Busselton Water, are focusing on reducing water use, increasing water recycling and developing new water sources to meet this challenge – Water for Growth: Urban.

Water-dependent ecosystems

Waterways in the South West are the most vulnerable to climate change in Western Australia, due to the long-term decrease in rainfall and streamflow and added population pressures, which drive increased demand for land development and water.

Declines in river flows, groundwater levels, increased drought, extreme flooding events, and salt-water intrusion can all result in changes to freshwater ecosystems. Existing threats to freshwater ecosystems like altered hydrology, habitat loss, algal blooms, fish kills and invasive species will be intensified by climate change, increasing the risk of species extinctions and shifts in the benefits that healthy waterways provide for people.

We use information from climate models 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. We aim to enable ecologically sustainable development of the state’s water resources by recognising and protecting water-dependent ecosystems and the benefits and values they provide.

Sea-level rise and flooding

Since 1993, the rates of sea-level rise to the north, west and south-east of Australia were higher than the global average, and rates of sea-level rise on the central-east and southern coasts of the continent were closer to the global average.

Sea levels recorded at Fremantle indicate a long-term average rise of 1.5 mm each year from 1897 to 2004. More recent shorter-term data from the Hillarys monitoring station indicates a greater increase of about 9 mm each year between 1991 and 2011. Modelling of future climate scenarios predicts a 100 mm increase from 1990 to 2030 for the median case.

As sea levels rise, low-lying coastal freshwater floodplain and wetland ecosystems are at risk as the incidence of inundation events increases and vegetation has less time to recover after more and more regular flooding by seawater.

The Department of Planning Lands and Heritage uses climate model information about sea level change to inform Western Australia’s state coastal planning policy.

It is still not clear how climate change is affecting the frequency and severity of flooding Western Australia. Climate change is expected to affect the intense rainfall events that cause flooding, but the changes are likely to vary depending on the rainfall duration, rainfall volume and the season.

This variability, combined with the indirect influence of changing annual rainfall on runoff generation and average storage volumes in reservoirs and lakes, means that even with higher rainfall intensities, there is no certainty that flooding will increase.

Adapting to less rainfall in the South West

We take past trends and future projections of climate into account through water allocation plans, meeting demand, water and land use planning, water licensing, and provide advice on flooding and ground and surface water ecosystems.

We have developed a standard, state-wide approach to integrate projections of future rainfall, evaporation and temperature into modelling of water resources. We use this modelling to inform water availability through water allocation and water supply plans.

We can’t reliably predict rainfall for a given season or year with climate modelling, but we do consider the impact of dry months, dry years and series of dry years in managing water resources. In systems with large dams or connected infrastructure, the department uses monitoring and adaptive management to adjust management from year-to-year in response to rainfall variability. In systems where we have less control and ability to vary water use within and between years, we set annual limits and rules for water abstraction.

Water supply and allocation

We tailor water management around the type of water resource and the infrastructure used to access it. This ensures the best use of available water as the climate changes. How and where you access water is important – either from mains water supply, from a dam or pump on a river, or from a groundwater bore. It will shape how reliably you can access water and how your water use impacts on other users as well as the environment.

We are managing water shortages around the South West through water allocation plans by using allocation limits, licensing rules, recycling and efficiency measures. The case studies below are examples of how the we have used future climate projections to make water supply and allocation planning decisions for different systems across the South West.

  1. Refining allocation limits in the Cockburn groundwater area
  2. Linking water releases from South West dams to inflow – Managing releases from the North Dandalup Dam and Managing releases for the Serpentine River
  3. Rebalancing the Gnangara Groundwater System
  4. Optimising and securing water resources in the South West
  5. Rural case studies on water efficiency and innovation – Shire of Wyalkatchem and Shire of Kellerberrin
Page last updated - 20 Mar 2019
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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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