Question Without Notice No. 938 asked in the Legislative Council on 16 November 2010 by Hon Lynn Maclaren
Parliament: 38 Session: 1
938. Hon LYNN MacLAREN to the parliamentary secretary representing the Minister for Water:
Reduced rainfall in Perth means reduced water flow into rivers, wetlands and aquifers, resulting in adverse impacts on water quality in these systems.
(1) What testing is conducted on river water, wetland water and groundwater in the metropolitan area?
(2) Is any testing performed on a routine basis or is it all done on an as-required or ad hoc basis?
(3) What agencies conduct water testing?
(4) Are the results of any testing accessible through a single portal?
(5) If the answer to (4) is no, can such a portal be created?
(6) Do community groups, natural resource management groups and other stakeholders have ready access to water testing data; and, if not, why not?
Hon HELEN MORTON replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. The following information has been provided to me by the minister —
(1) River flows are routinely measured by fixed gauging structures operated by the Department of Water and by the Water Corporation. Water quality sampling in rivers and urban drains is conducted fortnightly by the Department of Water in partnership with the Swan River Trust in the 13 main subcatchments flowing into the Swan–Canning estuary system. In the estuaries of the Swan and Canning Rivers, sampling is undertaken weekly by the Department of Water and the Swan River Trust. The Department of Water supports sampling of water quality in selected drains by the South East Regional Centre of Urban Landcare, a partner with Perth Region Natural Resource Management and local government, which makes this data available. Water levels in key wetlands are monitored with water level indicators, which are read regularly. Groundwater is monitored by several hundred bores in the metropolitan area. In areas of high use and concern, such as the Gnangara mound, 154 groundwater bores are fitted with data loggers that record water level four times a day.
(2) Testing is routine with the provision of additional sampling, for example, for summer rainfall events.
(3) The Department of Water and the Swan River Trust undertake most of the routine sampling. The Water Corporation undertakes sampling in corporation main drains and some local governments undertake sampling, together with some sampling of related wetlands.
(4) Yes, all data are available through the Department of Water’s water information system database. The results of weekly sampling of the Swan and Canning estuaries are made available on the Swan River Trust website. Average water levels on the Gnangara mound and daily levels throughout the state—about 150 sites—are reported on the Department of Water website.
(5) Not applicable.
(6) Yes, as noted above. The Department of Water also provides data analysis reports to community groups and assists them with interpreting its data.