A Pearsall man has been fined $3000 in the Joondalup Magistrates Court and ordered to pay $788.30 costs after pleading guilty to two charges relating to the taking of groundwater without a licence.
Anthony Darren Radich, 49, was charged following an investigation in 2021 by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, into the unlawful taking of groundwater from properties in Carabooda and Pearsall.
Investigations found that groundwater licences had previously been issued by the Department to conduct commercial market garden operations from the properties, however the licences had expired, and the take of water continued.
Licences are required under the Rights in Water and Irrigation Act 1914 to take and use groundwater for commercial purposes.
Department of Water and Environmental Regulation Executive Director Germaine Larcombe said the department set licensed water entitlements to protect the resource from over-use.
“The sustainability of the water resource depends on water being taken in accordance with approved limits,” she said.
“Actions such as this can put the entire resource at risk, which can have major impacts on the other users and the community as a whole, which relies on this water for social and economic purposes, as well as environmental values.”
