A Rudd Labor Government will commit more than $30 million to boost Perth’s future water supply through the funding of the Gnangara Mound aquifer recharge project and the State water management plans.

Federal Labor will work in partnership with the Western Australian government to ensure the Gnangara Mound is undertaken.

Federal Labor’s commitment comprises $15.75 million towards Gnangara Mound and $15 million for the State water management plans.

The funding will come from the Australian Water Fund.

Groundwater resources supply about 60 per cent of Perth’s drinking water and Gnangara Mound is the largest and most important shallow underground water resource in the Perth region.

The proposed project uses technology similar to that already being used in Singapore and California.

Under the plan, 1.5 gigalitres a year of treated wastewater will undergo further treatment including desalination and then will be pumped through bores into the confined Leederville aquifer on the Gnangara Mound.

That is 1.5 billion litres of water every year.

The Federal Government has been dragging its feet on this project.

WA Water Resources Minister John Kobelke has said that it has been a year since the WA Government signed the water initiative, but they have not received a single cheque.

The WA government has done a lot of work on water resources and securing its future, but it needs financial support rather than just words from the Federal Government.

Federal Labor is about working in partnership with the State Governments to end the blame game.

A Rudd Labor Government will support practical, nation building projects to help deal with Australia’s water crisis in our major coastal cities where 17 million Australians live.

Federal Labor has set a 30 per cent waste water recycling target by 2015.

Climate change demands national leadership to develop comprehensive plans to safeguard our most precious resource – water.

A Rudd Labor Government will address the failure of the Commonwealth to engage in urban infrastructure programs through the creation of Labor’s “Major Cities” program, which will support practical initiatives in our major cities, including Perth.