A new Department of Water report has confirmed warnings made repeatedly by the Greens that too much groundwater is being drawn from the Gnangara Mound.
“The Department of Water is obliged to report triennially to the Environmental Protection Authority on its management of environmental criteria on Gnangara Mound and as I feared, the report shows that the Department’s compliance with those environmental criteria has deteriorated over the past three years, largely due to over-abstraction,” Greens Water Spokesperson Alison Xamon MLC said.
WA Greens Water Spokesperson Alison Xamon MLC says smart water meters, not more desalination plants, must be amongst the measures to avoid a future water crisis in WA.
Commenting on the latest results of a trial of smart water meters in Kalgoorlie, Ms Xamon said the nearly one billion litre annual water-saving resulting from a $4 million investment in the new technology shows that the household water-use measuring devices are a cheaper option in the long-term than desalination.
Smart water meters are more costly than traditional meters but they are still far cheaper than desalination, WA Greens Water Spokesperson Alison Xamon MLC says.
Responding to Water Corporation comments that smart water meters are too expensive to roll out across all of Perth, despite being found in a Kalgoorlie study to make significant water savings, Ms Xamon said the new technology deserved to be looked at more closely.
WA Greens Water Spokesperson Alison Xamon MLC says it’s time for the Barnett Government to join the dots on Perth’s drying climate after the Water Corporation unequivocally blamed climate change for the need to build desalination plants.
“Recent responses by the Water Corporation to a Parliamentary committee have highlighted how successive state governments’ open-slather approach on carbon pollution and energy use has come back to bite us,” Ms Xamon said.
The Greens have claimed that staff cuts planned by the Department of Water will result in potential ongoing mismanagement of Perth’s water resources as Perth faces yet another dry summer.
During budget estimates it was revealed that close to one in five people are to be slashed from the staff at the Department of Water from 581 to 486 by the end of the next financial year.
4776. Hon Alison Xamon to the Minister for Mental Health representing the Minister for Water
I refer to my question on notice No. 4443 regarding the metering of water licences > 5ML/annum in the Gnangara ground water priority water management areas in accordance with Strategic Policy 5.03 Metering the Taking of Water, and I ask —
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The Greens have claimed that staff cuts planned by the Department of Water will result in potential ongoing mismanagement of Perth’s water resources as Perth faces yet another dry summer.