❓ A parliamentary question regarding the water allocation, inflow/outflow, and public access to Lake Kepwari, a development on the Collie River South Branch. The answer provides data on water flows, clarifies the allocation, and outlines the progress towards opening the lake for public recreation.
AnsweredQoN 2507Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the Lake Kepwari development on the South Branch of the Collie River, and I ask: (a) does Lake Kepwari still have an licensed surface water allocation of 3.2 Gigalitres per year; (b) if no to (a), what is the current licensed surface water allocation for Lake Kepwari; (c) what monitoring of inflow and outflow at Lake Kepwari is occuring; (d) what has been the inflow into Lake Kepwari from the Collie River South Branch Catchment in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 to date; (e) what has been the outflow from Lake Kepwari back into the Collie River South Branch in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 2017 and 2018; (f) in what years between 2012 and the present has the Collie River South Branch not flowed upstream (south) of Lake Kepwari; (g) in what years between 2012 and the present has the Collie River South Branch not flowed downstream (north) of Lake Kepwari; (h) in years of low rainfall, does the filling of Lake Kepwari have a higher priority than environmental flows into the Collie River South Branch; (i) under what policy, regulation or legislation is the decision on the higher priority in part (h) determined; and (j) what is the timeframe for the opening of Lake Kepwari for public access?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
19 November 2019
Responded by
Minister for Regional Development representing the Minister for Water
Response time
12 days
(a) No
(b) The current licensed surface water allocation for Lake Kepwari is 1.5 gigalitres per year.
(c) The monitoring and flow measurement of the lake began in 2013 and ceased in late 2018, following the successful implementation of the through-flow trial and post-trial operations. The lake water level is still being recorded.
(d) - (e) See the table below detailing the inflow, outflow and bypass volumes relating to Lake Kepwari from the Collie River South Branch Catchment:
Year
Inflow (GL)
Outflow (GL) 1
2012
0
0
2013
11.7
17.3
2014
10.2
14.4
2015
0.2
0
2016
9.4
10.9
2017
3.7
11.1
2018
11.7
8.9 2
1. Note, outflows are generally higher than inflows as the lake receives water from the surrounding catchment, groundwater up flows and directly from rainfall.
2. Unreliable record (due to data collection methodology).
(f) None
(g) None
(h) As all flows are directed through Lake Kepwari, no separate environmental flows to the Collie River South Branch are required.
(i) Not applicable
(j) All Government departments, along with Premier Coal, are working towards a plan for Lake Kepwari so that local people can camp, swim and recreate in the vicinity. The water component of the works and approvals are complete, however the rehabilitation works undertaken by the mining company are still ongoing. There are a number of actions that need to occur to enable the surrender of the Lake Kepwari area from the existing mining lease and the relevant government agencies are working on these as a matter of priority.
This process is governed by the State Agreement administered by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation.
(b) The current licensed surface water allocation for Lake Kepwari is 1.5 gigalitres per year.
(c) The monitoring and flow measurement of the lake began in 2013 and ceased in late 2018, following the successful implementation of the through-flow trial and post-trial operations. The lake water level is still being recorded.
(d) - (e) See the table below detailing the inflow, outflow and bypass volumes relating to Lake Kepwari from the Collie River South Branch Catchment:
Year
Inflow (GL)
Outflow (GL) 1
2012
0
0
2013
11.7
17.3
2014
10.2
14.4
2015
0.2
0
2016
9.4
10.9
2017
3.7
11.1
2018
11.7
8.9 2
1. Note, outflows are generally higher than inflows as the lake receives water from the surrounding catchment, groundwater up flows and directly from rainfall.
2. Unreliable record (due to data collection methodology).
(f) None
(g) None
(h) As all flows are directed through Lake Kepwari, no separate environmental flows to the Collie River South Branch are required.
(i) Not applicable
(j) All Government departments, along with Premier Coal, are working towards a plan for Lake Kepwari so that local people can camp, swim and recreate in the vicinity. The water component of the works and approvals are complete, however the rehabilitation works undertaken by the mining company are still ongoing. There are a number of actions that need to occur to enable the surrender of the Lake Kepwari area from the existing mining lease and the relevant government agencies are working on these as a matter of priority.
This process is governed by the State Agreement administered by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.