[Greens-Media] Scarce water supplies a threat to Pilbara Cities policy, say WA Greens

[Richards, Kirsten]

WA Greens Spokesperson for Water Alison Xamon said water use planning was a critical component of the policy to attract people to live in the Pilbara as part of the Pilbara Cities vision and that failure to plan appropriately would kill off the vision before it even started.

Speaking in Parliament this week Ms Xamon said the time for action on water was now, during the Pilbara Cities planning stages.

"The policy's aim - to attract people to build their lives in fully-serviced cities in the Pilbara - is a positive initiative that the WA Greens recognise has significant merit," Ms Xamon said.

"However, Pilbara Cities promises a huge change to the fabric of cities in the Pilbara and requires an enormous investment in infrastructure to make it happen.

"One of the primary constraints to this growth is the ongoing issue of water scarcity.

"Water planning must be a part of early land-use planning for Pilbara cities and industries and it is highly problematic that some Government proponents of Pilbara Cities are maintaining that water planning is not so important because it can be dealt with as the population grows rather than ahead of time.

"There is already a growing supply-demand gap in water provision, especially in coastal Pilbara areas, and even as it stands increasing demand is expected as population and industrial use in the area grows.

"So getting appropriate water planning and supplies underway and ahead of time is critical.

"The mining industry alone is predicting that it will need an extra 100GL/annum by 2020 across the State -  equal to around one quarter of Perth's current usage."(1)

"Most of that growth in industry is likely to continue to be in Pilbara and the Mid-West - which is a huge amount of water from a very dry area.

"And the Karratha City of the North Plan identifies that the desired growth simply cannot occur with the currently identified water supplies.

"The Department needs to ensure that sufficient water is secured now for future use in these cities.

"We shouldn't be waiting until we are reaching the constraints of growth to commit to implementing major efficiency and conservation measures."