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Good practice Imported

Perth's Groundwater Replenishment Scheme — Purified Recycled Water Recharging the Leederville and Yarragadee Aquifers (Australia)

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Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 40% 47/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 2017 WA's Water Corporation has purified Beenyup wastewater via ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and UV, injecting it into the Leederville and Yarragadee aquifers — passing 100 billion litres recharged by 2025 as Perth's groundwater has fallen up to 10m since 1980.

100 billion litres
Cumulative water recharged (by March 2025)
28 billion litres/year
Annual recharge capacity (since 2022)
70,000+
Trial water-quality results meeting guidelines (2010-2012 trial)
up to 10 metres
Metropolitan groundwater decline addressed (since 1980)
Perth's Groundwater Replenishment Scheme — Purified Recycled Water Recharging the Leederville and Yarragadee Aquifers (Australia)

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
Water Corporation (Western Australia)
Period
2017–present (trial 2010–2012)
Keywords
water utilities, managed aquifer recharge, water reuse, drought resilience

Context

Perth's water supply is highly climate-exposed: average rainfall has declined by around 20% since 1980, and metropolitan groundwater levels have fallen by as much as 10 metres.

Objectives

State-owned Water Corporation tested indirect potable reuse at scale to recharge the Leederville and Yarragadee aquifers with purified recycled water.

Activities

A three-year trial from 2010 recharged more than 2.5 billion litres and generated over 70,000 water-quality results, all meeting health and environmental guidelines, before the Groundwater Replenishment Scheme was commissioned in 2017. Treated wastewater from the Beenyup facility is purified through ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and UV disinfection at the Advanced Water Recycling Plant, then injected into the Leederville (200-500m deep) and Yarragadee (700-1,400m deep) aquifers.

Results

Capacity was doubled in 2022 to 28 billion litres a year, and by March 2025 the scheme had recharged a cumulative 100 billion litres. Water Corporation cites the reverse-osmosis process as using roughly a quarter of the energy of seawater desalination.

Conclusions

This is Australia's first such scheme and only the third of its kind worldwide at commissioning, but it is an engineered, energy-intensive treatment train rather than a passive nature-based solution, and no independent ecological monitoring of the receiving aquifers was reported.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M) — Capital-intensive treatment infrastructure (ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, UV); specific cost figures are not given in the reviewed sources.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — 3-year trial (2010-2012), commissioned 2017, capacity doubled 2022, 100 billion litres cumulative recharge by March 2025.
Staffing & skills
Water Corporation (Western Australia) — state-owned utility, operates the Beenyup / Advanced Water Recycling Plant

Conditions for success

  • A multi-year monitored trial (>70,000 water-quality tests) before full commissioning to build regulatory and public confidence
  • Access to suitable deep aquifers (Leederville, Yarragadee) for injection
  • Sustained utility capital investment to expand capacity

Where it fits

Governance type
state-owned utility
Scale
metropolitan (Perth)
Income level
high-income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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