Water Minister Dave Kelly today announced that the Shire of Boyup Brook would receive a grant of $100,000 to help boost its resilience to the impacts of climate change and increase the town's non-potable water supply network.
The Shire of Boyup Brook joins nine regional communities that will benefit from the first round of the McGowan Government's $3.2 million Community Water Supplies Partnership Program.
The new two-year program expands on the previous Water Supply Program and is jointly funded by the State and Commonwealth governments.
Many communities in the State's South-West have experienced significantly reduced rainfall as a result of climate change.
The Community Water Supplies Partnership Program, in partnership with local government, provides project funding to a maximum of $100,000, and is part of the McGowan Government's ongoing commitment to help local governments and regional communities secure additional non-potable water sources and develop longer-term solutions for dealing with the impacts of climate change.
The Shire of Boyup Brook will contribute an additional $50,000 to the project, which will see 5.6 kilometres of water pipe installed to connect an unused Water Corporation town dam reservoir to the non-potable community water storage dam.
The water will be made available for use as an emergency supply for farmers to access in dry months, as well as for firefighting purposes.
The pipeline will be able to transfer 100,000 litres of non-potable water per day from the old town supply dam and at least 20 million litres per year.
It is expected that the project will increase water storage capacity in the town of Boyup Brook and reduce scheme water use by about 9.5 million litres per year, resulting in annual cost savings of $25,000.
The non-potable water will be used to irrigate ovals, tennis courts, Flax Mill Caravan Park, recreation areas, parks and gardens.
Other grant recipients include the Shires of Brookton, Dumbleyung, Kulin, Narrogin, Perenjori, Trayning, Williams and City of Albany.
So far the McGowan Government has spent more than $3.7 million on direct water carting to central locations to support emergency livestock needs, $2.2 million on the development and upgrade of 75 strategic community water supplies, and $1.5 million towards partnerships with 23 local governments to upgrade community water supplies.
The program is supported by the National Water Grid Connections funding project.
As stated by Water Minister Dave Kelly:
"I want to commend Boyup Brook for developing this project which builds on their water security plan and secures critical, additional non-potable water supplies for the town.
"Securing the town's unused drinking water supply will provide a reliable emergency water supply and reduce reliance on scheme water to irrigate public open spaces.
"The Boyup Brook project is a perfect example of how the Community Water Supplies Partnership Program with local governments helps rural communities adapt to declining rainfalls and maximise all available water resources."
As stated by Warren-Blackwood MLA Jane Kelsbie:
"The Community Water Supplies Partnership Program is a great initiative from the McGowan Government that is helping rural communities harvest more of this precious resource and boost water security for dryland towns.
"By ensuring we take full advantage of stormwater runoff, we can reduce the need to use valuable town scheme water supplies at standpipes for emergency livestock and community use.
"I congratulate the Shire of Boyup Brook for being proactive in building our community's drought resilience and boosting the town's non-potable water supply."
