• Skip to content
  • Skip to navigation
  • About us
  • Make a payment
  • Accessibility
  • News
  • Publications
  • Contact Us
Government of Western Australia Department of Water and Environmental Regulation
Go to Minister for Water
Go to whole of WA Government search
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
  • Home
  • Planning for the future
  • Finding water
  • Groundwater Investigations
  • Perth Region Confined Aquifer Capacity (PRCAC) study
  • Finding water
    • Groundwater Investigations
      • Perth Region Confined Aquifer Capacity (PRCAC) study
      • Regional Water Availability and Water for Pilbara Cities Groundwater Investigation Programs
      • State Groundwater Investigation Program
      • Shallow groundwater system
      • Mapping water availability in the Albany Hinterland
  • Water allocation plans
  • Meeting demand
  • Rural water support
  • Flood planning and mapping
  • Water and land use planning
  • Innovation
Share
  • facebook iconFacebook
  • twitter iconTwitter
  • email iconEmail

Perth Region Confined Aquifer Capacity (PRCAC) study

World class WA groundwater science

Gnangara modellingThe $7 million Perth Region Confined Aquifer Capacity (PRCAC) study is a four-year project that aims to improve our certainty of how much water can be extracted from Perth's deep aquifers without impacting their long-term sustainability.

The study commenced in 2012 and combines conventional groundwater investigations, innovative science partnerships with leading research institutions, and an ongoing collaboration with the Water Corporation.

The project builds on the excellent work to date by the Department of Water and its predecessors in investing in science to understand the aquifer systems below Greater Perth.

The importance of Perth's groundwater

Two RocksToday, the city uses more than 430 billion litres of water a year from the ground beneath our feet. This water is very important to local governments and the urban development and horticulture industries. This water is the reason we have ovals and parks for sports and recreation, places that make our City such a great place to live. It is the reason that we have fresh food grown here on our doorstep.

The Gnangara and Jandakot groundwater systems are also a major source of water for public supply, contributing in 2013-14 around 40 per cent of the water delivered to Perth's households and businesses through the Integrated Water Supply Scheme.

The Department of Water is continually improving the way it manages the Perth's groundwater resources and its multiple uses in a drying climate.

Our management of groundwater abstraction in recent years to reduce the impact of the drying climate is producing real, positive outcomes that include limiting abstraction from environmentally sensitive areas of the superficial aquifer and taking water for public water supply mostly from the deep aquifers. 

To carry out this advanced resource management, we are updating our knowledge of the complex groundwater system with the aim of ensuring long term productivity of the resource.

Innovative research and partnerships

Pearsall Gnangara monitoring bore drillingAs part of the PRCAC study, through $1.5 million in research agreements with Curtin University and the University of Western Australia, we will apply new methods to verify groundwater modelling – utilising equipment not currently available commercially.

This includes using the Magnus Cray supercomputer at the Pawsey Centre in Bentley.

In the first two years of the PRCAC study the Department of Water completed several data collection programs that covered over 7,000 square kilometres of the Perth region using geophysical equipment mounted to planes and helicopters.

We have used information from these airborne surveys to help us target the next stage of more detailed investigative work.

Exciting finds to date

One of the goals of the $7 million Perth Region Confined Aquifer Capacity project is to see whether we can optimise the way we abstract and use water from the Gnangara system, including new locations to draw water from deep aquifers that have less impact on the system.

Through recent seismic and electromagnetic surveys we already have a better understanding of the groundwater flow in the north western Gnangara system.

North Gnangara Investigation Yarragadee windowEvidence from our recent scientific work defining the aquifers on either side of an important geological formation known as the Badaminna fault line has revealed information about potential water capacity and groundwater recharge not previously known.

This exciting revelation is supported by other work and reveals water on the western side of the fault line  is recharged from a  different area to the water on the eastern side. All of this indicates a potential new area of the groundwater system where it is separated from other parts of the system. 

The department is now building on this work and installing groundwater monitoring bores to measure the water levels chemistry and age. This will help us work out if the aquifers are connected to the eastern side of the fault, and where recharge to this area of the system is coming from.

As we learn more about this groundwater area and its unique characteristics we will assess the potential volume of water that could be sustainably abstracted for public or private water supply. This work will be completed by 2017. Water from the Leederville and Yarragadee aquifers is mostly used for the Integrated Water Supply Scheme, so water in this area north of Yanchep would eventually support future growth in this area.

What will the project achieve?

The information gained through PRCAC will be used for, but not limited to:

  • identify the locations that are suitable for the future expansion of the State Government's Groundwater Replenishment Scheme – a key component of climate resilience for scheme water supplies
  • support sustainable use of the Gnangara groundwater system which currently supplies around 45 per cent of Perth's total estimated water use
  • further update abstraction strategies for public and private water supply that minimise impact on wetlands and groundwater dependant ecosystems and maximise use of the deeper confined aquifers without impacting on water quality.
  • protect existing users of Perth groundwater from saline intrusion
  • help make decisions about land use and development that optimise recharge of local and deep aquifers.
Page last updated - 27 Aug 2015
Return to top of page
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.

WA.gov.au
FOR MORE NEWS ON WA WATER
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR RSS
All content copyright © Government of Western Australia. All rights reserved.
  • Home
  • Privacy
  • Sitemap
  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • -->