WA Water Minister Dave Kelly has declared a water deficiency in the Cascade area in the Shire of Esperance and announced the State Government will begin carting water tomorrow (June 17) for emergency water supplies for animal welfare needs.
This is the 12th declaration since May 2019 and follows an application from the Shire of Esperance on behalf of five farmers in the Cascade area. A declaration is made as a last resort, after continued dry conditions due to climate change have depleted on-farm and State Government managed community water supplies.
The declaration will see the State Government cart an estimated 640 kilolitres of water each week from the Water Corporation’s scheme at Norseman in the Goldfields region.
Water will be delivered to mobile tanks on Cascade oval, opposite the Cascade Primary School, reducing the distance farmers need to travel to source emergency livestock water.
Water carting arrangements are being managed by the WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, with support from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and the Water Corporation.
Water deficiencies have also been declared in the shires of Ravensthorpe (Mount Short and West River area), Lake Grace (in the Mallee Hill area and Ardler Road area), Kent (Hollands Rock and South Kent), Jerramungup (Grass Patch and Gairdner), Esperance (Grass Patch and Salmon Gums) and Dumbleyung (Kukerin).
Water being carted under water deficiency declarations is strictly for emergency livestock and, if required, local firefighting emergencies.
Farmers requiring crop spray water are encouraged to access scheme standpipes for this purpose and should contact their Shire or visit the Water Corporation’s website for scheme standpipe locations.
In light of continuing water shortages and the need to conserve this precious water resource, farmers who are carting livestock water are encouraged to cart to closed storages or tanks, rather than into dams where water losses are high through evaporation.
Source: WA Government