PERTH’S groundwater supplies will be boosted after the State Government announced it would double the capacity of the Groundwater Replenishment Scheme in Craigie.
The Water Corporation scheme involves further cleaning treated wastewater to drinking water standards and injecting it into aquifers.
Water Minister Mia Davies said the first stage would see about 14 billion litres of water being recharged into groundwater supplies by the end of the year.
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READ NOW“We always planned to double the plant’s capacity and we have made the sensible decision to start that process now, at the halfway point of implementing our 10-year Water Forever plan,” she said.
“The corporation will invest $232 million to expand the scheme to recharge up to 28 billion litres of water a year, which includes duplication of the recycling plant at Craigie and new recharge bores.
“Funding for the expansion will come from the corporation’s existing capital works program and work will begin in March 2017.”
The scheme is the first of its kind in Australia and it is anticipated that groundwater replenishment could supply up to 20 per cent of Perth’s drinking water by 2060.
Expansion of the scheme is expected to be completed within three years.