LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL STANDING COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES AND FINANCIAL OPERATIONS 2018-19 ANNUAL REPORTS QUESTIONS PRIOR TO HEARINGS Department of Water and Environmental Regulations Hon Diane Evers MLC asked: 1) DFAS mentions PFAS management plan on page 73: a) Has DWER investigated and acted on concerns regarding contamination of Garden Island by PFAS; Answer: HMAS Stirling Naval Base on Garden Island falls within Commonwealth jurisdiction. In accordance with the principles of the IntergovernmentalAgreement on a National Framework for Responding to PFAS Contamination, the Commonwealth Government is responsible for the investigation and management of contamination at the site. The Department of Defence (DoD) carried out investigations and risk assessments to manage risks associated with PFAS contamination at HMAS Stirling Naval Base. Led by the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, a number of State Government agencies, including the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER), attended DoD's Project Control Group meetings as observers, and provided comment on the investigation and risk assessment reports commissioned by DoD as well as DoD's PFAS Management Area Plan. b) What is the extent of contamination on Garden Island and what action has DWER taken to address it; and Answer: The Commonwealth Government is responsible for investigating and managing contamination from HMAS Stirling Naval Base. As noted in response to a), DWER attended DoD's Project Control Group meetings as observers, and provided comment on documents. DoD's investigations identified key PFAS species at levels exceeding relevant guideline values (published in the PFAS National Environmental Management Plan) in soil, groundwater, marine sediment, pore water and/or marine waters at the following locations on Garden Island: demolition ground; fire training area; wastewater treatment plant; accommodation block; fire station, flammable/hazardous goods and waste storage, and ship sullage; Australian Veterans' Children Assistance Trust storage, fuel farm and drainage swale; dredged sediments; and helicopter support facility. The investigation and risk assessment reportsare publicly available on DoD's PFAS Investigation and Management Program webpage for HMAS Stirling Naval Base. c) What advice did DWER provide to the Australian Government's firefighting foam investigations on Department of Defence lands? Answer: DWER's comments focussed on consistency of the investigations, risk assessments and proposed management plans for Defence lands within Western Australia with the PFAS National Environmental Management Plan and the National Environment Protection (Assessment of Site Contamination) Measure. Initialled Page number 1 of 1 pages LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL STANDING COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES AND FINANCIAL OPERATIONS QUESTIONS PRIOR TO HEARING Department of Water and Environmental Regulation Hon Diane Evers MLC asked: 3) In relation to the delivery of water licences, outlined from page 62: a) Why are the key performance indicators for the assessment of water licences based primarily upon the time taken to assess the application and level of associated risk; Answer: The Department's water licensing activities are proponent driven, whereby water licence and permit applications are submitted to the Department for assessment under the Rights in Water and Irrigation Act 7974, before the Department reaches a decision on whether to grant, refuse or reject the application. The Department is committed to delivering its water licensing service in a cost-effective, efficient and timely manner, in part because investment decisions by applicants are commonly time-bound and require that applications for access to water are dealt with by the Department expeditiously. The Department also ensures that the level of assessment effort applied to an application is proportionate to the risk posed to the resource should a licence be granted. The "Average time taken (days) to assess a licence application by risk category" key performance indicator enables judgement about the Department's efficiency in decision­ making regarding water licence applications within this risk-based assessment framework. The Department also reports "Average cost of assessing a water licence application by risk category", which enables judgement about cost efficiency of service. b) How long has this been the key KPI; Answer: The Department's current suite of corporate key performance indicators for Service 3 (Water regulation, licencing and industry governance), including "Average time taken (days) to assess a licence application by risk category" and "Average cost of assessing a water licence application by risk category", have been reported since 2015. However, these indicators are somewhat similar to the former Department of Water's pre-2015 KPl's under the previous Service 2 (Water allocation and optimisation) as written in the 2010-11 Annual Report: • 'Average time taken (days) to process a licence by water category grouping'; • 'Expenditure on water licence administration (Average cost per water licence (all categories) and Total number of licences processed by category grouping).' Page 1 of 6 c) Has any deterioration in the quantity and quality of water in areas where licences have been granted and are active been noticed; and Answer: The Department's water allocation planning, evaluation and licensing functions are informed by routine and comprehensive monitoring of the State s groundwater and surface water resources. Water resource management activities are adjusted, where necessary, to avoid degradation of the resource ensuring the quantity and quality of water in areas where licences have been granted. d) Why are KPIs not included that reflect the long term environmental impacts of decisions? Answer: While meaningful key performance indicators reflecting the 'long-term impact' of water licensing decisions would be fundamentally difficult to define and accurately report annually, the Department does have a key performance outcome that seeks to ensure Western Australia's growth and development is supported by the sustainable management of water resources for the long-term benefit of the State . This is supported by two key effectiveness indicators; 'the proportion of stakeholders who perceive the department to be effectively managing the State's water as a resource for sustainable, productive use' and 'the proportion of priority growth areas that have a water supply planning strategy'. Water resources need to be sustainably managed to achieve sufficient water quantity and quality for current and future needs. Increasingly precise, systematic and transparent management is predicated by science-based water allocation and optimisation plans, reports and guidance documents. They guide and define management decisions to meet demand and avoid, mitigate or minimise unsustainable impacts on resources. With this in place sufficient good quality surface and groundwater will remain an ongoing part of future water supply for economic and population growth and the liveability of towns and cities. Page 2 of 6 7) I refer to DWER'S water policies, mentioned on page 47, and I ask: a) Are water quality monitoring and flow data on drains publicly available: Answer: Yes. All water quality and flow data collected by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation is available through the Water Information Reporting portal including data collected by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions which is responsible for all water quality monitoring in the Swan Canning catchment. The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation provides free data comprising measurements taken from drains for 1491 sites throughout Western Australia. This drain data is able to be self-serviced at no cost from the Department's online Water Information Reporting portal. The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation has attached a spreadsheet with information for drain data within the Water Information Reporting portal. More detailed measurement data for individual drains can be self-serviced from the free online Water Information Reporting portal or by contacting the Department. If no to (a), why isn't this information available in the public domain; and Answer: Not applicable. i) If no to (a), please provide monitoring and flow data on drains in electronic form; Page 2 of 6 iii) Does DWER have any plans to further improve water quality in urban drainage; Answer: DWER will continue to work with partner state agencies, local governments and the community to deliver the projects and programs listed in c(i). In addition, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions has a range of sub catchment scale, local Water Quality Improvement Plans that include drains. d) I am aware that concerns regarding the poor management of stormwater in local government jurisdictions have been raised with the Director General of DWER. Will the DG be responding to these concerns? If not, why not; and Answer: Yes, the Director General is aware of the issue and is responding through the programs identified at c (i), e) Is DWER aware that many drain entry pits hold water after storms, and that this results in significant mosquito breeding right next to where people live and work? What steps are being taken to deal with this issue? Answer: The responsibility for this issue generally falls to local governments which actively deal with the mosquito issue and have been evaluating commercial products to manage such situations.