The Minister for Water has announced a water deficiency declaration for Salmon Gums in the Shire of Esperance, the tenth declaration in the State since May last year.
The Minister, Dave Kelly said water carting was now underway to provide emergency water supplies for animal welfare needs.
“The official declaration follows an application from the Shire on behalf of 11 farmers in Salmon Gums,” Mr Kelly said.
“A declaration is made as a last resort after continued dry conditions have depleted on-farm and local community water supplies,” he said.
“The declaration will see the State Government cart about 850 kilolitres of water each week from Norseman to existing tanks at the Salmon Gums Quarry Dam, reducing the distance farmers need to travel to source emergency livestock water.”
He said water carting arrangements were being managed by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation with support from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and the Water Corporation.
“Water made available to farmers through water deficiency declarations is strictly for emergency livestock purposes and should not be accessed for any other purpose, including crop spraying,” Mr Kelly said.
Mr Kelly encouraged farmers accessing emergency supplies to store the water in closed tanks rather than on-farm dams, where water losses were high due to evaporation,
“We have never before seen such a high demand for water carting in the State, with the cost of carting water for both public drinking and animal welfare needs estimated at more than $4 million since January 2019,” he said.
