Planning for water services
|
Providing water for all, forever
We are committed to providing a sustainable water service to Western Australia’s current and future generations.
As our State continues to experience the effects of a drying climate, planning for our water services to meet future demand is ever more important.
Surface and groundwater sources that once were sufficient to meet our water needs, can now hardly be relied upon as our State faces the ongoing challenge of climate, population and economic growth. New and innovative ways of meeting demand therefore must be progressed.
A challenging decade for Perth's water supplies
Working within Water Forever, our long term plan to deliver sustainable water services, we have embarked on a ten year plan to drought-proof Perth by 2022. Our changing climate has become more noticeable in the past ten years, presenting us with new challenges. Reduced rainfall, and changes in rainfall timing have greatly reduced run-off into our dams around Perth and dramatically reduced their role in our drinking water supplies. We simply can no longer rely upon our dams.
Our ten year plan
The first stage of our plan is the expansion of the Southern Seawater Desalination Plant, which will see climate-independent seawater desalination produce half of our current water needs – over 150 billion litres a year by 2012/13.
Traditional water sources from shallow groundwater and dams will take more of a back seat and make way for a new range of sources and efficiencies, including groundwater abstraction from deeper aquifers, and greater recycling of treated wastewater. This will allow us to reduce our reliance on dams, and groundwater from shallow aquifers that also supply wetlands and lakes.
Our ten-year plan will sustainably drought-proof our city by:
- Transferring our groundwater abstraction to the deeper aquifers to protect the groundwater environment and secure our groundwater supplies.
- Replenishing our deep aquifers with recycled water through a new groundwater replenishment scheme.
- Expanding seawater desalination capacity to offset the declining inflow to our dams.
- Continuing to make gains in water use efficiency, while preserving our outdoor lifestyle and enabling continued growth of our beautiful city and state.
- Using wastewater recycling as a resource for industry, public open spaces and agriculture.
 | Water Forever, whatever the weather - our 10 year plan |
Current and future water sources
 |
 |
| Current water sources | New water sources |
Water Forever - our long term plan to provide sustainable water services
In October 2009, we released our 50 year plan, Water Forever: Towards Climate Resilience. This plan was the culmination of a two-year project dedicated to working with the community to develop a long term plan to deliver water services to Perth, Mandurah and surrounding communities. The principle of becoming more climate resilient is now applied to planning for water services across the State.
Water Forever provides a portfolio of options to manage our demand and supply balance by 2060 through:
- Reducing water use by 25%;
- Increasing water recycling by up to 30%; and
- Developing up to 100 gigalitres of new water sources.
| | Water Forever: Towards Climate Resilience |
| | Water Forever: Towards Climate Resilience - summary |
