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Connect 6 - Water: where from, how much, and who uses it?

How much do we need?

As we look ahead into the future we know we need more water (demand) but the available water (supply is declining as our climate drys. We need every one to work together to make sure we have enough water for future generations and nature.

Where does it come from?

Most of our water comes from underground - We need to be careful about this though as this water won't last us forever. We use a bit of desalinated sea water which uses a lot of energy to make drinkable. Dambs aren't a reliable water source any more as our climate drys. Recycled water is under used here and we should be reusing greywater more and more as there are lots of different uses for it.

Who's using it?

How is it supplied - "scheme" or "self-supply"?

Across WA more water is used from non-drinkable water bores, dams, etc than the drinking water provided by the Water Corporation. That's a lot of unseen, unregulated water!

How much "self-supply" do we use?

In 2016, 76 GL was used from non-scheme self-supply in the Perth metro (315 in WA all up).

i.e. the Perth metro homes, councils and businesses are using enough groundwater to fill the Perth Stadium about 50 times!!

What About Canning?

Scheme or self-supply - Who's been using all the ground water?

Canning residents, like residents all over Perth, use heaps of water! Some of this is scheme water which is paid for, but a huge chunk (35% in Canning) is used in gardens. This is a big risk because water is wasted, drained from our main water source and goes unchecked. This water often picks up pollutants and runs off into rivers and waterways where it can harm the natural environment.

In Canning we could be reusing water, recycling is a great way to use water twice. But we aren't supplying any of our own recycled water but we need to investigate more sustainable, long term water supplies that prevent stormwater pollution from entering our rivers.

Who uses scheme water in Canning?

Apartments and homes (high and low density residential) are clearly the larges water users. We also know a lot of this water is used for greedy green gardens.

How much water does the average house/unit use?

East Cannington and Canning Vale seem to use the most water. Who lives here and how do we connect them to water to change that.

Which suburbs use the most water?

Looks like a lot of water get's used in Willetton where lot's of people live. That's not far from the river though, maybe we can engage and educate them so they value and care for water as much as they care for them selves and their family.

Consultation has concluded