Drainage

There is no single definition of a drainage dataset that exists within WA.  Around 80% of the information is owned and managed by Local Government, and the quality/coverage/currency of the spatial data for the various Local Governments is unknown.  This has been recognised as a problem for a considerable time and the WALIS Core Management Group (the strategic direction-setting arm of WALIS) endorsed that a preliminary review be undertaken of the drainage dataset.  There are early indications that stakeholders would be receptive to a project to assess the situation with a view to consolidating data into a single drainage dataset.

A terms of reference was developed for the first stage of the project, a tender was let and a drainage workshop was held with over 50 stakeholders from Local and State Government.  A final report was presented to WALIS Council in February 2007, and a paper was presented at the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (IPWEA) conference in Perth.

The next phase of the project will be to complete a business case for creating a single dataset.  There is still some work required to determine the likelihood of the Department of Water (DoW) adopting custodianship despite much of the data being sourced directly from local councils.  It might be possible to utilise the SLIP enabling framework or a future focus area to deliver the combined information product.

As part of this drainage project, a drainage data set audit was performed for the Perth metropolitan area.

For further information contact the WALIS office walis@walis.wa.gov.au phone: 9273 7046.