Groundwater use – commercial bottled water

Commercial water bottling operators in proclaimed areas must have a license, bores must be metered and water use reported annually. Water metering and measurement provides vital information on how much water is being taken by licensees.

Water bottling comprises a very small portion of licensed groundwater abstraction in proclaimed areas. In the Gingin groundwater area, for example, water bottling accounts for just 0.33 per cent of all licensed entitlements.
 

In unproclaimed groundwater areas, the department has no legislative provisions to regulate and constrain groundwater use. It is common for water users, particularly in the Perth hills area, to abstract groundwater for a range of purposes such as horticulture and bottled water.
 

Land use activities, including commercial water bottling operations, are regulated by local government authorities through development approval processes and conditions granted under the Planning and Development Act 2005.
 

The department supports local authorities by providing expert technical advice during development application assessments, including conditions which can be imposed to monitor the volume of groundwater taken. Local authorities are responsible for ensuring compliance of development approval conditions.
 

Technical expertise is important in areas such as the Perth hills, where the hydrogeology is complex and groundwater is contained in a fractured rock aquifer system reliant on rainfall recharge. These systems are localised, hard to find and generally not connected to other water sources, making them difficult to quantify. The lack of connection means the ability to abstract groundwater is limited, yields are unreliable and taking water from one location has low potential impact for other bore users.