As revealed in Perth LIVE’s Word on the Street, the state government is proposing bore water users follow the same two-day sprinkler roster that scheme water users follow. Currently garden bore owners can use their sprinklers three-days a week.

It is estimated that garden bores collectively draw about one fifth (22 per cent or around 90 GL) of groundwater taken from the aquifers in the Perth to Mandurah areas and it’s used mostly for irrigating lawns and gardens.

Garden bore users generally use about three to four times more water on their gardens in comparison to scheme water users. Water Minister Dave Kelly said people can still have a good garden with less watering.

“For last twenty years we’ve been saying you can still have a good garden by watering two days a week,” he told Simon Beaumont on Weekends.

Speaking with Oliver Peterson, bore water specialist Ryan Ferguson said they are confused by the proposal.

“Essentially, it’ll push people back onto the mains system,” he said

“Which as we know, is not as renewable.”

Mr Ferguson, who owns The Boreman business, said he is already experiencing job cancellations due to this proposal.

“It’s not great,” he said.

He estimates there are approximately 160,000 people using garden bores in Perth. Mr Ferguson said anyone who uses a bore is replenishing the bore water each time they use it.

“The water that comes out of the bore gets put straight back into the ground,” he said.

Minister Kelly said the water table has dropped 10 metres. Mr Ferguson questioned the accuracy of this figure.

“If that was the case, I personally would have 9000-10,000 bores that had run out of water.”

Press PLAY to hear more about the effect this proposal could have:

Public comment on the draft plan and proposed changes to the sprinkler roster is open until February 28, 2022 with the hope to implement the new roster next summer.

For more information visit: http://www.wa.gov.au/rebalancingourgroundwater 

(Photo: iStock by Getty)