The WA Government says it has spent $1.6 million carting water since May 2019.

In March this year, the town of Salmon Gums in the Shire of Esperance was the tenth area declared water deficient, joining areas in the Shires of Ravensthorpe, Lake Grace, Kent, Jerramungup, Esperance, and Dumbleyung.

The WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) spokesperson says “water carting is needed to meet the emergency livestock water requirements of farmers across the 10 water deficiency declared areas”.

“The department will continue to monitor and assess the capacity of on-farm water supplies and other strategic community water supplies to determine whether water carting to a central location should be reduced or suspended,” DWER told reporters this week.

“The department encourages farmers to enhance their on-farm water infrastructure and effectively maintain dams and catchments to maximise water capture and storage capacity to minimise reliance on off-farm community water supplies.

“Current expenditure for water carting to support emergency livestock water in water deficiency declared areas is about $1.6m.”

WA Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan says farmers are responding to official warnings.

“To date, the State government has undertaken a $1.6m water carting operation to deliver up to 13 million litres of water per week to water deficient areas for livestock - free of charge to farmers,” Ms MacTiernan said.

“In addition, the Water Corporation is carting about 7.5 million litres of drinking water per week to 12 towns across the Great Southern region.

“Soil moisture levels are near average or drier than normal after what has been a warm and dry April.

“The Bureau of Meteorology seasonal rainfall outlook for May to July indicates above-normal rainfall chances over most of the southern part of the State, including southern and eastern agricultural areas.

“We are working across government to monitor and respond to the impact of dry seasonal conditions on broadacre livestock and grains industries across the grainbelt and south coast, with a focus on animal welfare, reducing land degradation risk and providing seasonally relevant information.”

Farmers in affected regions have been cleaning out dams and enlarging some to prepare for any eventual rain.

WA Water Minister Dave Kelly says the water deficiency declaration is made “as a last resort after continued dry conditions have depleted on-farm and local community water supplies”.

Water provided to farmers through Water Deficiency Declarations is strictly for emergency livestock purposes, and should not be used for crop-spraying or other purposes.

“To conserve this precious resource, farmers accessing this emergency water are encouraged to store the water in closed tanks, rather than on-farm dams, where water losses are high due to evaporation,” DWER said.

DWER has also been in contact with local government authorities and farmers to monitor on-farm water storage and requirements.

Farmers have been turning in farm water surveys, local government authorities are considering Community Water Supply Program grant applications in areas of need.

The State has called on the Federal government to expand its work through the new Future Drought Fund.