South West Yarragadee aquifer
858. Hon ALISON XAMON to the parliamentary secretary representing the Minister for Water:
I refer to the south west Yarragadee aquifer. According to the south west groundwater areas allocation plan produced with best available scientific knowledge, all water resources in the south west Yarragadee groundwater aquifer are fully allocated. What is the government response to recent media reports calling for this fully allocated system to be further plundered for the Perth integrated water supply scheme?
Hon HELEN MORTON replied:
I thank the member for some notice of this question. The following information has been provided to me by the minister —
There are 1.2 gigalitres of unallocated water in the south west groundwater areas; however, licence applications are pending for this amount. An amount of 17.6 gigalitres is also reserved for public water supply. Under the south west groundwater areas allocation plan, this amount is reserved for the future public drinking water needs of the south west.