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Our projects

The Water Corporation proposes to improve the security of water supplies to the Hills area ofPerth, and the Goldfields and Agricultural regions.  To achieve this, the Mundaring Water Supply Improvement Project was announced in 2002. Plans involved the staged construction of up to three 50-megalitre water tanks and a large water filtration plant to improve the quality of drinking water from Mundaring Weir. 

Mundaring Weir is the primary source of drinking water to about 100,000 people in the Hills suburbs, east of Hardey Road Glen Forrest, and those served by the Goldfields and Agricultural Water Supply Pipeline.

The natural characteristics of the run-off from the Mundaring catchment can occasionally produce water in Mundaring Weir with higher levels of turbidity (muddiness) and colour.  This aesthetic water quality issue has been an increased problem in recent years with low dam levels, caused by drought conditions. At times, the Water Corporation has had difficulty maintaining compliance with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. The proposed Mundaring Water Treatment Plant is required to filter all water from Mundaring Weir, prior to disinfection, to ensure reliable compliance with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines and to keep pace with improving water quality standards. 

Following the project announcement, strong community objections emerged - mainly in relation to the proposed site at Sawyers Valley Hill, which was next to the Water Corporation’s existing water tanks. Sawyers Valley Hill was within a water reserve, which has been vested in the Water Corporation and it predecessors for reservoirs, aqueducts, watercourses and catchment areas for more than 100 years. 

In early 2003, the Water Corporation began a community information campaign to explain the importance of the project in an attempt to achieve community support. The campaign stressed that the water tank, which was the first stage of the proposal, was not linked to, or dependent on, location with the water treatment plant.

In August 2003, the then Minister for Government Enterprises announced the withdrawal of the application to the Environmental Protection Authority to build the water treatment plant at Sawyers Valley Hill. The Corporation’s application to the Environmental Protection Authority to build a 50-megalitre water tank remained active.

In September 2004, the Minister for the Environment gave approval to start building the first 50-megalitre water storage tank and some associated works at Sawyers Valley Hill. Work on the tank is progressing and should be completed by April 2006. 

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