Groundwater replenishment involves further treating already treated wastewater using three processes before being replenished to groundwater ” ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet disinfection.
The treatment process removes chemicals and micro-organisms.
The Department of Health has set more than 250 recycled water guidelines, including pharmaceuticals, which recycled water must meet.
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READ NOWThe water produced meets these guidelines derived from World Health Organisation standards and Australian guidelines for drinking water.
We’re lucky in Perth to have aquifers that are able to be recharged using groundwater replenishment to store water for future use.
About 90 per cent of homes in Perth also help replenish aquifers through soak wells connected to their gutters and downpipes, which actively recharge groundwater from the rainwater that falls on our roofs.
Perth’s local aquifers provide us with a natural stormwater capture and recycling system that is the envy of the world.
We understand there may be some sceptics out there, so I encourage people to visit the groundwater replenishment trial facility at Craigie and see how that works. To find out more visit watercorporation.com.au
In terms of building another dam, unfortunately, they can’t be relied on as our primary source of water anymore.
Perth’s drying climate means that our dams provide less than a quarter of our water supply now.
Until the 1970s, we received more than 300 billion litres of water into our dams ” enough to supply 1.9 million customers for a year.
However, this year we’ve only received 18.9 billion litres so far ” which would only supply the same amount of customers for 19 hot summer days.