The south west of Western Australia is one of the places on the planet most impacted by climate change A growing city responding to climate change Two Year action plan Contents Message from the Minister for Water 1 A waterwise Perth 2 Why do we need a waterwise Perth? 4 Delivering the Waterwise Perth Action Plan 9 Actions 10 Households and buildings 10 Precinct and suburb 14 City and urban 18 Government leading by example 22 Acronyms 27 References 28 vision Perth is a leading waterwise city Message from the Minister for Water This plan outlines the actions we will take in the first two years of this journey, and establishes a solid foundation for the successive plans needed to achieve our 2030 targets. To deliver the plan we will work with local government, industry, traditional owners and broader community. Labor was the first responder to climate change in WA. Former Premier Geoff Gallop recognised the importance of water and appointed himself Water Minister in 2005. Premier Gallop commissioned the first Perth desalination plant, trialled the injection of highly treated wastewater into aquifers, and protected key water resources like the south The Waterwise Perth Action Plan is part of west Yarragadee aquifer. the McGowan Government’s coordinated response to the impacts of climate change It is again a Labor Government that is and sets the direction for transitioning Perth delivering the next important steps for to a leading waterwise city by 2030. building climate resilience to ensure Perth has healthy waterways and wetlands, attractive Climate change has made Perth’s winters urban spaces and water security beyond drier. 2030. The south west of WA has had a 15 per I would like to thank the more than 200 cent decline in average annual rainfall since stakeholders who gave their time and the mid-1970s due to climate change. We knowledge to inform this important and first- used to get on average 420 billion litres of of-its-kind action plan. water running into Perth dams each year, but now can expect just 25 billion litres. And it’s not just our dams feeling the pinch. Our groundwater levels have also significantly HON DAVE KELLY BA MLA reduced with a 1.8 meter drop in aquifer Minister for Water; Fisheries; Forestry; storage since 1998. Innovation and ICT; Science Over the next thirty years, the population of the Perth-Peel region is anticipated to top 3.5 million meaning demand for water for households, industry and recreation will increase. To ensure Perth can remain a beautiful, green and liveable city, we must act now to be more waterwise. Now is the time to change. 1 A waterwise Perth A waterwise Perth is cool, liveable, green and sustainable, a place where people want to live, work and spend their time. It is a city where communities care about and value water, while making best use of its various sources (groundwater, surface water, stormwater, seawater and wastewater). The city serves as a catchment and provides healthy natural environments, supporting a range of social, ecological and economic benefits. Source: Department of Water and Environmental Regulation 2 F ACTS URB A POT ATER: kL per 126 person per NON-POT ATER: year 95 kL p until the 1970s, Perth’s drinking pre-1975 420GL water supplies came almost 9 = 37GL exclusively from rainfall runoff into our dams with groundwater Usupplying our water for public open space. in Before 1975, the average streamflow to s in Perth’s drinking water dams was 420GL. As of s s September 2019, streamflow was just 37GL. n n tempera s Declining rainfall due to climate change has isn n i meant our dams now provide around 10 per conin o is cent of Perth’s drinking water with 40 per cent coming from groundwater, 48 per cent 15 % from desalinated water and two per cent from groundwater replenishment. To transition Perth to a leading waterwise city This change in the way we source and use by 2030, we need to: water has come about through a series of • Use water sustainably in our homes and waterwise policies and programs and our gardens; journey to becoming a waterwise city is well • Create liveable, green and resilient progressed. Water saving programs have communities; been highly successful in improving water efficiency and conservation, reducing annual • Find more sustainable ways to maintain per person water supplied since 2001 from our public open space; 185kL to 126kL in 2018-2019. • Develop Perth in harmony with its water The purpose of this two-year action plan resources. is to take the next step; to move beyond This action plan has been developed with ‘saving water’ to better managing the urban input from more than 200 stakeholders water cycle to ensure healthy waterways including researchers, policy makers, and wetlands, attractive urban spaces and planners, developers, and local government water security beyond 2030. This is particularly authorities. All agree that a collective important in the context of a growing approach is needed to transition Perth to a population and climate change. leading waterwise city by 2030. Actions in this plan include a focus on water in the urban landscape in the Perth and Total water used from sources Peel region to support jobs, growth and in Perth and Peel (average 2014-18) development, improve our urban spaces and protect wetlands and waterways. The 1% Recycled water actions will be commenced within the next two years and contribute to achieving 6% Surface water our 2030 waterwise targets. 23% Desalination Waterwise Perth is part of 70% Groundwater Government’s response to climate change and its ongoing impact on our urban water cycle 3 Why do we need a waterwise Perth? he south west of Western Australia is trees, groundwater dependent caves, one of the places on the planet most wetlands, lakes and bushland. impacted by climate change. There We now need to rebalance how much is no doubt that climate change groundwater we use with less rainfall has already made Perth a drier and hotter T recharging our aquifers under climate change. city. Further declines in average rainfall and increased temperatures are predicted over In Perth, the average annual number of days the coming decades. At the same time, the above 35oC is predicted to increase from population of Perth and Peel is anticipated 28 (1971-2000 average) to 36 by 2030. to reach 3.5 million by 2050 – almost 70 per Summer heatwaves pose risks to human cent more people than we have now. With health and have particularly harmful impacts less rainfall and increased temperatures, on vulnerable groups, including the elderly how we use water, where we source it from and small children. and how we plan our urban spaces become More hot days will also make what is known important to ensure Perth remains a liveable, as ‘the urban heat island effect’ worse. green and resilient city. Concrete and brick buildings and paved surfaces can cause built-up areas to be three Climate change – less rain and a to seven degrees warmer at night and up to hotter city three degrees warmer during the day (UMW Since 1975, Perth’s rainfall has dropped 2014). by about 15 per cent, with climate models This effect is intensified in suburbs with predicting a further six per cent reduction minimal tree canopy. Heat vulnerability maps over the state’s south west by 2030. At the (CRCWSC 2018) show a large number of at- same time, declining rainfall has reduced risk suburbs in Perth. To balance this, tree streamflow to Perth’s drinking water dams canopy, wetlands and waterways can create from an average of 420GL/year before 1975 a cooling effect and will become increasingly to just 37GL for the year to September 2019. important in our urban landscapes. With less water available from our surface water resources, groundwater has become increasingly important as a source of water for Perth and now makes up 70 per cent of all water used in the region, including for drinking, for industry and for irrigation of our parks and other recreational spaces. Rising sea levels But the decline in rainfall is also affecting our groundwater with reduced recharge Decreasing to our aquifers (underground water winter rainfall in reserves) resulting in a 1.8m drop in the south west storage levels from 1998 to 2016. This Declining groundwater levels means less groundwater is available for Reduced inow to Hotter and streams and dams more frequent use and lower water tables are impacting hot days the health of our urban landscapes, including More severe Harsher re droughts weather 4 Long term streamflow record for Perth dams (Fig 1) 1100 1000 900 800 700 600 500 Measured in GL Measured 400 300 200 100 0 1911 1931 1951 1971 1991 2011 Key 1911 - 1974 av 1975 - 2000 av 2001 - 2009 av 2010 - 2018 av Annual Total 420.1 GL 237.9 GL 136.6 GL 75.4 GL Stirling and Samson Brook Dams are included within this data, with a modelled flow prior to 2000 Average groundwater levels of the Gnangara Mound (superficial aquifer) (Fig 2) -1.6 -1.8 -2 -2.2 -2.4 -2.6 -2.8 -3 -3.2 -3.4 -3.6 Average relative groundwater level (m) groundwater relative Average -3.8 -4 -4.2 -4.4 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 Over the last few years the rate of storage change appears to have improved (100 GL increase). This is due to: higher annual rainfall since 2015 which has led to increased recharge; rainfall falling in patterns that have been conducive to higher recharge; land use changes such as pine management and urbanisation that have promoted higher recharge in some areas; decreases in public water supply abstraction and relatively stable private abstraction as a result of actions in the 2009 Gnangara plan.