Water Services
The IWSS water grid supplies water to customers.
There are four main components that are common to all water supply schemes.
Water Sources
Water sources collect or abstract water. We have four types of sources:
- surface water sources – dams to collect and store streamflows;
- groundwater sources – bores or wells that abstract groundwater;
- seawater – from the ocean; and
- other sources such as drainage water, stormwater and treated wastewater.
Traditionally, surface water and groundwater schemes were the only sources used to supply Perth. Due to the impacts of climate change other types of water sources have now been added to the scheme. In 2004 the Kwinana Water Recycling Plant was built to supply treated wastewater to industry in Kwinana and in 2006, the first seawater desalination plant was built to supply Perth.
A feature of the IWSS water grid is the very large number of sources supplying water to the scheme. All sources connect into the water grid and combine to supply water to Perth and surrounding areas.
The groundwater schemes are mainly located in the Northern suburbs, while the surface water sources are located in the Southern areas, in the hills. The water grid has been developed so that the Northern groundwater schemes can supply local areas and water can be transferred to Southern suburbs.
Similarly, dam water supplies local areas and can be transferred to Northern suburbs. The Perth Desalination Plant supplies water to local areas and this water can be banked - transferred into the dams for later use.
During periods of low storage in dams, groundwater sources and the desalination plant supply the bulk of the Perth demand.