[Greens-Media] South West Yarragadee fully allocated.

[Richards, Kirsten]

South West Yarragadee fully allocated.  Time to get serious about water conservation.
Hon Alison Xamon- MLC East Metropolitan Region for the Greens

"Recent calls in the media for the South West Yarragadee to be tapped as the next source of water for Perth are ill-informed and irresponsible" said Alison Xamon MLC, Greens spokesperson for water.

"It's irresponsible to be talking about taking billions of litres of water from an ecosystem that is under pressure and sending it to a reticulated system where we haven't done basic water conservation measures," she said.

"The latest and best science for the sustainability for water in the south west of Western Australia shows that global warming and climate change are going to have dramatic impacts on streamflows and groundwater recharge for decades to come."

"This proposal was going to have immense impacts on the environment in the south west, and also for those local food production enterprises whose livelihoods depend on the sustainable management of the water resource."

"The Department of Water groundwater allocation plan shows that there is limited availability for water from the deep south west Yarragadee aquifer for public water supply."

"The CSIRO sustainable yields project shows that rainfall and climate modelling predicts up to a 40% drier climate with much greater reductions in stream flows and groundwater recharge."

"We can't revisit this flawed project while the Government continue to refuse to do anything about sustained water conservation measures.  I urge Professors Appleyard and Imberger to read the Department of Water and CSIRO studies and acknowledge the large amount of research that has gone into this work, and realise the full implications for Western Australia."