Waterways

A waterway can be a creek, brook, river, or stream, and include a lake, estuary or inlet at its base. Waterways also include floodplains and wetland systems that overflow into rivers, as well as any lakes or swamps that are filled (mainly) by streams rather than shallow groundwater.

Any waterway in Western Australia is likely to be owned and managed by a number of different landowners and organisations. The Department of Water is the lead organisation ensuring the management of waterways through the Waterways program.

Cooperative relationships in the community are essential for good decision-making that sustains the health of the waterway. This is because:

• the variety of land uses in a catchment means there will be differing perspectives on the management of a waterway
• the potential to manage all waterways directly through legislation is relatively small
• upstream land use impacts have downstream effects.

A key aspect of sound waterway management is to ensure that the range of views, interests and aspirations we hold for our waterways are identified and managed.

Our Role

The Department of Water supports the delivery of waterways management:

• at the State scale - through policies, legislation, cross-regional issues
• at the regional scale - through supporting groups such as regional Natural Resource Management (NRM) groups, groups of local councils and regional development commissions
• at the catchment scale - through supporting groups working to integrate all aspects of catchment management
• at the local scale - by providing technical advice and support for river restoration activities through Rivercare Officers (employed by the Department or regional NRM groups).

The Department is currently working in partnership with the six regional NRM groups as they develop their integrated NRM strategies.

Much is known about Western Australian waterways, however more research is needed before all issues can be effectively addressed. Waterways have environmental, economic and social benefits (e.g. the value of picnicking by a stream, or the value of the nutrient-filtering capabilities of riparian vegetation). A more thorough understanding of these values will allow for more thoroughly informed management decisions.

The Department undertakes monitoring at a large number of sites across the State. Monitoring change is essential for gauging the success of a management approach and for understanding how we might do the job better in the future. The Department monitors combinations of a range of waterway characteristics, including nutrient levels, algal blooms, flow volumes, water quality and salinity.