Water on tap

The north-west corridor water supply strategy is a collaboration between the Department of Water and City of Wanneroo in consultation with developers, government agencies and stakeholders. It is designed to ensure the ‘orderly and equitable allocation of shallow groundwater resources’ in the areas from Quinns Rocks to Yanchep.

‘We’ve got 9000ha of land to be developed in this area and what we’re about is making sure that we can build a liveable community, even when we’ve got a dry climate like WA,’ Ms Davies said.

‘The water, while it’s limited, shouldn’t be a limiting factor in making sure that we have a liveable community with public open space.’

The strategy set a design criteria for public open spaces, identifying areas as either active (playing fields) or passive (pocket parks, schools, streetscapes and entry statements) and applying a reduced irrigation rate of 6750kL per year per hectare, down from the previous 7500kL.

With the Gnangara Mound groundwater system fully allocated, Ms Davies said the State Government needed to work within Wanneroo’s allocation to ensure water usage was distributed equally across all developments. ‘Previously it’s been first-in-first-served (and) obviously that causes some difficulty for developers that come in after the first person,’ she said. ‘We need to make sure that there’s appropriate water, public open space, recreation areas, right through this growth corridor, not just in the first development.’ Mrs Roberts said that the City welcomed 8000 new residents every year, with 57,000 residents expected to live in the northwest corridor developments. ‘We’re the fastest growing local authority in WA (so) definitely water is an issue,’ she said. ‘This is a very successful strategy, we hope, and it will be a key element of people being able to enjoy their lifestyles.’ Mrs Roberts said that the City had been having ‘ongoing dialogue’ with the State Government to ensure land was allocated for active public open spaces. ‘In a new community it’s important to have those facilities and essentially if we don’t have those community groups, then we have a community that may not succeed,’ she said. ‘Essentially, what we would need is another Kingsway Reserve in the Alkimos area.’