Perth’s Climate-independent Water Source
Groundwater already provides half of the volume of water withdrawn for domestic use by the global population, and around 25% of all water withdrawn for irrigation, serving 38% of the world’s irrigated land. Read how Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) in Perth, Australia is enhancing resilience to future extremes.
MAR consists of water management methods that recharge an aquifer using either surface or underground recharge techniques. The stored water is available for use in dry years when surface water supplies may be low. MAR can be used as a drinking water supply, as process water for industry, for irrigation, and for sustaining groundwater-dependent ecosystems.
MAR can be used to address a wide range of water management issues, including:
- Storing water in aquifers for future use
- Smoothing out supply and demand fluctuations
- Increasing resilience to droughts
- Stabilising or raising groundwater levels when over-exploited
- Maintaining environmental flows in streams and rivers
Groundwater Replenishment Scheme, Perth, Western Australia
The Groundwater Replenishment Scheme (GWRS) is a climate-independent water source for Perth. Commissioned in 2014 by the Government of Western Australia after successful completion of the 3-year Beenyup Groundwater Replenishment Trial, the 14 gigaliters/year (GL/year) GWRS is designed to treat recycled water from the Beenyup Wastewater Treatment Plant to a level of purity that is equal to or higher than drinking water quality and then inject it into the Leederville and Yarragadee aquifers for later abstraction for drinking water. The treatment process involves:
- Secondary treated wastewater from Beenyup Wastewater Treatment Plant being pumped to the Advanced Water Recycling Plant for further treatment
- Water entering the Advanced Water Recycling Plant is treated through three barriers: ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, and disinfection with ultraviolet light
- The water that has passed through the three barriers, now pure as drinking water, is injected into groundwater for storage
- The stored water is pumped out through a series of monitoring bores for sampling and testing
The take-out
Groundwater replenishment schemes provide climate-independent water sources.
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