Auditor-General slams WA's water regulator as report exposes lack of oversight

Australia Broadcast Center

a day ago

Authorities have no idea how much water is being pulled from the ground each year in Western Australia nor whether any is being taken illegally, a blistering report has revealed.
And despite more than two decades of warning of surging demand amid a drying climate, the state's Auditor General found that the agency tasked with the responsibility of managing the precious resource was still in the dark on what was happening.
The report says that agency — the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation — is "not doing anywhere near enough" to adequately protect WA's water resources, and "does not understand" if water is being extracted legally or not, or how much is actually being used.
'Despite increasing demand for water and our drying climate, DWER cannot be confident that licence holders are meeting their licence conditions and that water is being extracted appropriately," Auditor General Caroline Spencer said.