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Government of Western Australia Department of Water and Environmental Regulation
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Finding new water resources, including Royalties for Regions-funded programs and other drilling programs to explore resources across the state.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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For information on groundwater, garden bores and waterwise gardens please visit our Be Groundwater Wise website. You can find questions and answers about garden bores,

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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

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

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Water Quality Improvement Plans (WQIPs)

All South West Western Australian estuaries, especially those in areas with extensive artificial drainage, are severely affected by eutrophication due to agricultural and urban land uses.

Water Quality Improvement Plans (WQIPs) are whole-of-government responses to improve current estuary water quality (and that of the streams and rivers in its catchment) and prevent additional deterioration.The Hardy Estuary showing residential landuse in the immediate catchment

Water Quality Improvement Plans provide a consolidated understanding of water quality issues in the catchment and estuary, identify sources of pollutants (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus) and provide solutions in the form of management actions supported by cost/benefit analyses.

Although the main water quality improvement sought is a reduction of nutrient and organic matter pollution and the symptoms thereof (e.g. algal blooms and fish kills), a reduction in industrial contaminants reaching the waterways, prevention of acid sulfate soil impacts and improvement of river health and function are also important components of improving water quality.

Water Quality Improvement Plans have been developed for three of the most severely affected estuarine systems in the south-west: Peel-Harvey, Swan-Canning and Vasse-Wonnerup. Additional WQIPs have been developed for the Leschenault Estuary and the Hardy Inlet (with a focus on the Scott River). An additional WQIP is being developed for the Hardy Inlet with a focus on the lower Blackwood River.

It is important to recognise that a Water Quality Improvement Plans requires extensive consultation, coordination and action among key government agencies, local government authorities, industry representative bodies and the community.

The Water Quality Improvement Plan outlines a range of management actions which, if taken together, have the potential to improve current water quality, prevent further decline and also deliver a range of water efficiencies and human health outcomes.

Water Quality Improvement Plans are developed in response to estuary condition assessments and based on numerical catchment modelling which identifies and quantifies nutrient sources in the catchment based on subcatchment, land use and land use practices.

Best management practices are identified through extensive consultation with community, landholders and relevant agencies such as Department and Agriculture and Food and applied in the catchment model in different combinations to achieve the required nutrient reductions to improve water quality. Only those management practices which are practical and achievable are considered in the model.

Water Quality Improvement Plans are similar to the earlier generation nutrient reduction and action plans that were developed for Wilson Inlet (WINRAP) and for the Torbay Inlet (Watershed Torbay).

 Further information

For further information see:

  • Vasse Wonnerup and Geographe Water Quality Improvement Plan
  • HardyWater Quality Improvement Plan
  • Leschenault Water Quality Improvement Plan
  • Swan Canning Water Quality Improvement Plan
  • Peel - Harvey Catchment Council
Page last updated - 07 Apr 2015
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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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