WA Science—Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 97: 221–235, 2014 Drought and flooding rains: Western Australian water resources at the start of the 21st Century D P COMMANDER School of Earth and Environment, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
[email protected] The drying climate of southwestern Western Australia has led to much reduced runoff and groundwater recharge, with consequent decline in groundwater levels affecting wetlands and groundwater-dependent ecosystems. Water level decline in the Gnangara Mound has been exacerbated by maturing pine plantations and groundwater pumping for public supply and horticulture, while desalination has replaced the failing surface water supplies from hills catchments. At the same time, the north and northwest of the State have an increasingly wet climate in the last decade. The challenge for the State is to optimise use of the existing water resources and make best use of the undeveloped surface and groundwater. With groundwater and surface water resources increasingly fully developed, the emphasis for the future will be on recycling and water-use efficiency. KEYWORDS: climate variability, drought, groundwater, surface water, water resources. INTRODUCTION the time licensed groundwater use in many areas has reached allowable limits. Climate change is a topical Drought and flooding rains characterise our climate, but subject, yet there has only been relatively recent Western Australia is experiencing prolonged drying in recognition of the contribution of rainfall cycles to the the southwest and contrary wetting in the north current climate. simultaneously. Water is often quoted as a limiting factor in the development of Western Australia: the State lacks A hundred years ago, the southwest was about to major perennial rivers; rivers in the southwest are saline enter a 60 year period of above-average rainfall.