Minister for Water, Dave Kelly has issued a reminder to Perth residents of the need to stay ‘waterwise’ all year round in the face of rapid climate change.
Mr Kelly said the State’s climate had changed significantly since the 1970s, with the south-west now one of the areas most affected through declining rainfall on the planet.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, rainfall last month was around a third below average for the State as a whole, however, for Perth it was 45 per cent below the long-term average.
“The combination of drier soils and reduced rainfall has also meant less water is flowing into metropolitan dams,” Mr Kelly said.
“Last month, only 1.5 billion litres of rainfall run-off, or streamflow, fed into Perth dams, which was just 4.6 per cent of the long-term average for June.”
The Minister said that in the face of climate change, Perth no longer relied on rainfall alone to fill its dams and, in 2019-20, 47 per cent of water supplied to Perth homes and businesses came from desalinated seawater.
“Since 2001, the Water Corporation has allocated more than $2.2 billion in climate-resilient water sources, such as desalinated seawater and recycled water, which now account for nearly half of all water supplied through the Irrigated Water Supply Scheme,” he said.
“We all need to actively consider ways to reduce our water consumption all year round and help protect our precious water sources,” Mr Kelly said.
