SNAPSHOTS OF SCIENCE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Water
Western Australia’s water science expertise and water resource management experience covers a
range of conditions from the tropics to the arid inland, remote and mining and gas resource intensive
regional areas, irrigated agriculture, rural water use, growing urbanisation and sensitive coastal
locations. Managing Western Australia’s natural water resources sustainably for the long term is one of
the most significant things that can be done to effectively respond to a drying climate. New supplies and
effective ways of doing more with less water are required, and natural water resources will continue to
be a big part of future water supply as well as providing essential environmental and public benefits.
Planning for the future
Water Sensitive Cities
Desalination
The State Government Department
of Water’s (the Department)
planners and scientists have recently
developed a climate tool based on
all of the global climate models
and drawing on the best available
science and research from around
the world and Australia, including the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, the Indian Ocean Climate
Initiative, the Centre for Australian
Weather and Climate Research,
the Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organisation and
the Bureau of Meteorology.
The State Government and The
University of Western Australia, in
collaboration with more than 80
research, industry and government
partner organisations across
Australia and overseas, are working
with the Cooperative Research
Centre (CRC) for Water Sensitive
Cities to address some of the key
technical, social and institutional
knowledge gaps and barriers to
advancing liveable, water sensitive
urban development.
The Water Corporation’s Perth
Seawater Desalination plant and
Southern Seawater Desalination
plant incorporate a range of
technological innovations to improve
their effectiveness and efficiency.
Credit: Nathan Dyer
The Department’s work has been
peer reviewed, acknowledged as the
most suitable tool now available for
water planning in Western Australia,
and is ready for use.
 In the Kimberley region,
Hydrographers measure the
physical features of bodies of water
to predicting change over time in
order to support marine activities,
economic development, scientific
research, security and environmental
protection.
This work aims to change the way
cities and towns are built by valuing
the contribution water makes to
economic growth and development,
quality of life and to the ecosystems
of which cities and towns are a part.
This new approach places
practitioners, policy makers and
regulators in interdisciplinary teams
with researchers whose expertise is
in areas such as water engineering;
urban planning; commercial and
property law; urban ecology; urban
climatology and global climate
science; organisational behaviour;
change management; the water
economy; risk assessment; social
marketing and community health.
These teams are located at research
hubs in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth
and Singapore.
The CRC research will guide capital
investments to improve the liveability
and economic viability of cities.
The Perth plant became the biggest
of its kind outside the Middle East,
while the Southern Seawater plant
was one of the most advanced of
its kind, and set new international
benchmarks.
Energy efficiency was a key
improvement for the Southern
Seawater plant, boosted by a new
approach to treatment on a large
scale that used different kinds of
membranes and pumping systems
to allow for reduced operating
pressures. The plant also recovers
energy from the brine-by-product
prior to discharge.
Credit: Water Corporation
 The Water Corporation’s
Southern Seawater Desalination
plant incorporates a range of
technological innovations including
reverse osmosis. It is anticipated that
replenishment will provide 20 per
cent of Perth’s drinking water needs
by 2060.
SNAPSHOTS OF SCIENCE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Groundwater replenishment
Groundwater investigations
The Water Corporation is pioneering
groundwater replenishment for
drinking water supplies in Australia.
Following a successful three-year
trial in Perth that in part tested
the technical feasibility of an
advanced treatment process in
local conditions, construction
of Australia’s first large-scale
groundwater replenishment
scheme is under way. It is due
for commissioning in late 2016.
It is anticipated that replenishment
will provide 20 per cent of Perth’s
drinking water needs by 2060.
Groundwater is a hidden resource
that Western Australia relies on to
prosper and grow. As the State’s
natural environment also depends
on groundwater, its use must be
carefully balanced. Good scientific
information is essential to achieving
this balance.
The trial also provided an
understanding of the replenished
aquifer’s response. It established
the distance travelled by injected
recharge water and examined any
effects on the deep groundwater
environment.
The Department plays an important
role in finding new groundwater
resources across Western Australia
so that Government and industry
have timely knowledge of resources
suitable for drinking water supply,
agriculture, mining and industry
in areas where it is most needed.
The Department has several
groundwater investigation
programs that are aligned with the
State’s development needs and
water management challenges,
including a drying climate.
Credit: Water Corporation
The groundwater replenishment
scheme will inject highly treated
recycled wastewater into deep
aquifers for ‘banking’ and abstraction
of equivalent volumes years later
to augment Perth’s drinking water
supplies.
The plant will incorporate
ultra-filtration, reverse osmosis
and ultra-violet disinfection
that will remove chemicals and
micro-organisms to levels in
accordance with World Health
Organisation standards and
Australian guidelines for drinking
water.
The Department has significant
scientific expertise in understanding
the condition of our estuarine
systems. Recently, work with
international, national and other
Western Australian scientists has
improved understanding of
estuarine seagrasses and helped
to develop a suite of indicators
to track their health. Seagrasses,
aquatic flowering plants that
provide food and habitat for fauna,
are sensitive to environmental
conditions. State-of-the-art
monitoring assesses seagrasses
at a range of spatial and temporal
scales, tracks changes in seagrass
distribution and informs on why
such changes may be occurring.
This information guides the
implementation of policies
and actions to best manage
estuary health.
The Department also undertakes
catchment and estuary
modelling, which is used to support
land-use planning decisions, and
assess different land management
regimes, climate change impacts
and rehabilitation strategies.
State-of-the-art catchment models
quantify flows and nutrient loads to
the State’s rivers and estuaries.
 A Water Corporation trial using
22 monitoring bores, injects treated
wastewater into deep aquifers and
abstracts equivalent volumes years
later to augment Perth’s drinking
water supplies.
The Department is working with
regional partners to protect and
improve these community assets,
and take a lead role in understanding
and tracking their condition.
Credit: Department of Water
Credit: Department of Water
 Department of Water
hydrogeologist Baren Linders
pressure testing groundwater in the
West Canning Basin. Finding new
groundwater resources in Western
Australia is crucial for the State’s
development needs and to manage
the effects of a changing climate.
Catchment and estuary
science
The estuaries of the State’s South
West accommodate the majority
of the Western Australian population
and contribute more than
$1 billion annually in services to
the Western Australian economy.
 Department of Water officers
sampling water quality in the Vasse
Wonnerup estuary. The Department’s
catchment and estuary models
support sustainable management
of the State’s agricultural resources
and guide placement of future urban
centres in the rapidly growing State.