❓ The Minister for Water outlines the McGowan government's investment in securing regional water supplies for agricultural communities, highlighting projects in the wheatbelt and great southern regions to address climate change impacts and water deficiency declarations.
AnsweredQoN 166Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
WATER SUPPLY — REGIONS
166. Ms J.L. HANNS to the Minister for Water:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to addressing the impacts of climate change on
water supplies in Western Australia.
(1) Can the minister
update the house on this government's significant investment in
securing regional water supplies for agricultural communities?
(2) Can the
minister outline to the house how this investment is supporting communities
across the wheatbelt and great southern regions?
166. Ms J.L. HANNS to the Minister for Water:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to addressing the impacts of climate change on
water supplies in Western Australia.
(1) Can the minister
update the house on this government's significant investment in
securing regional water supplies for agricultural communities?
(2) Can the
minister outline to the house how this investment is supporting communities
across the wheatbelt and great southern regions?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Collie–Preston
for her question.
(1)–(2) I am very pleased to outline some of the projects
that the state government has undertaken to assist regional communities
to deal with the impacts of climate change. Members on this side of the house
understand that the south west of Western Australia
is one of the places on the planet most impacted by reduced rainfall due to climate change, with a 20 per cent
reduction in rainfall since the 1970s. That has an impact on regional communities, and particularly farmers' ability to access non-potable
water when their on-farm supplies run dry. In 2019, Western Australia had an
unprecedented 12 water deficiency declarations across dryland agricultural areas. WA had never had more than two
water deficiency declarations before, but there were 12 on foot at once.
That resulted in the state government spending almost $4 million carting water
to community points so that farmers could access water for animal welfare purposes.
Despite the good rains last year, we currently have two new water deficiency
declarations, one in Grass Patch and the other in Salmon Gums.
The government understands the
difficulties that not having sources of non-potable water presents for farmers, including in many cases the distances
they have to travel. That is why the government has invested over $4 million
on over 100 projects for community water supplies so that farmers can access
off-farm non-potable water supplies. These projects can also provide water for
towns to water public open space and for firefighting purposes. Over 100 of
those projects have been completed by this government since it came into
office.
I was very pleased to recently go to
Merredin with Hon Sandra Carr to look at the 100 th project, which
will improve the town's stormwater network and enable the shire to
capture stormwater to irrigate public open space. In dry parts of the state,
having green public open space is very important. That project was half-funded
by the state and half-funded by the shire. Having completed 100 of those
projects already, the government has committed to provide $7.3 million for a further
70 projects. A project could involve additional work to bring online an old
town dam or an old railway dam that will provide valuable watering points for
communities in the agricultural regions.
These
projects often have great stories. I visited one of those projects in Lake
Grace. Councillor Ross Chappell told me about the railway dam that his
father built 100 years ago for the railway. He told me he had been arguing with
the shire for years to bring that railway dam back online as a source of water
for farmers and for firefighting purposes.
The government has delivered that dam to the community, so this water source is now accessible. He is really chuffed to see that the dam his father built,
which was full of water but had not been accessible to the community, has now
been brought back online by this government.
As
I said, we have already spent $4 million and have committed another $7.3 million
to these projects. In the eight years of the previous government, it
spent $780 000 on similar projects. We, on this side of the house, understand the difficulties that climate change poses in many
parts of the state, and we are getting on with assisting farmers and
communities to have a reliable source of non-potable water.
for her question.
(1)–(2) I am very pleased to outline some of the projects
that the state government has undertaken to assist regional communities
to deal with the impacts of climate change. Members on this side of the house
understand that the south west of Western Australia
is one of the places on the planet most impacted by reduced rainfall due to climate change, with a 20 per cent
reduction in rainfall since the 1970s. That has an impact on regional communities, and particularly farmers' ability to access non-potable
water when their on-farm supplies run dry. In 2019, Western Australia had an
unprecedented 12 water deficiency declarations across dryland agricultural areas. WA had never had more than two
water deficiency declarations before, but there were 12 on foot at once.
That resulted in the state government spending almost $4 million carting water
to community points so that farmers could access water for animal welfare purposes.
Despite the good rains last year, we currently have two new water deficiency
declarations, one in Grass Patch and the other in Salmon Gums.
The government understands the
difficulties that not having sources of non-potable water presents for farmers, including in many cases the distances
they have to travel. That is why the government has invested over $4 million
on over 100 projects for community water supplies so that farmers can access
off-farm non-potable water supplies. These projects can also provide water for
towns to water public open space and for firefighting purposes. Over 100 of
those projects have been completed by this government since it came into
office.
I was very pleased to recently go to
Merredin with Hon Sandra Carr to look at the 100 th project, which
will improve the town's stormwater network and enable the shire to
capture stormwater to irrigate public open space. In dry parts of the state,
having green public open space is very important. That project was half-funded
by the state and half-funded by the shire. Having completed 100 of those
projects already, the government has committed to provide $7.3 million for a further
70 projects. A project could involve additional work to bring online an old
town dam or an old railway dam that will provide valuable watering points for
communities in the agricultural regions.
These
projects often have great stories. I visited one of those projects in Lake
Grace. Councillor Ross Chappell told me about the railway dam that his
father built 100 years ago for the railway. He told me he had been arguing with
the shire for years to bring that railway dam back online as a source of water
for farmers and for firefighting purposes.
The government has delivered that dam to the community, so this water source is now accessible. He is really chuffed to see that the dam his father built,
which was full of water but had not been accessible to the community, has now
been brought back online by this government.
As
I said, we have already spent $4 million and have committed another $7.3 million
to these projects. In the eight years of the previous government, it
spent $780 000 on similar projects. We, on this side of the house, understand the difficulties that climate change poses in many
parts of the state, and we are getting on with assisting farmers and
communities to have a reliable source of non-potable water.
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