This dataset identifies the Management Areas declared under the Waterways Conservation Act 1976. Under the Waterways Conservation Act 1976, the Minister for Water and the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation have responsibility for the conservation of the waters and associated land in five declared Management Areas. The declared Management Areas are Albany waterways, Avon River, Wilson Inlet, Peel Inlet and Leschenault Inlet. The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation has an approval process for certain works affecting waterways and foreshore areas and can provide advice on other developments affecting, or likely to affect, the condition and public amenity of these waterways. Key aspects of the Act relate to protecting and managing the condition and amenity of waterways when there are disturbance activities within or adjacent to the Management Areas. Activities within or adjacent to the Management Area that should be referred to the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation for discussion or licensing include: changes or intensification of land use adjacent to or impacting on waterways or their foreshore areas (e.g. land planning, development, mining, mineral exploration, drainage or flood risk management proposals) dredging, reclamation, dewatering, drainage and construction activities including retaining walls, jetties, private boat ramps or public facilities other activities that may affect declared management areas, for example, those that may increase nutrients. Further information and advice can be sought from Department of Water and Environmental Regulation's regional offices. Contact information for regional offices is available at the Department of Water website.

Surface Water subareas stored in WRIMS (Water Resource Information Management System). Surface Water Allocation Subareas for Western Australia were derived in consultation with the regional offices, and geometry is based on hydrographic catchments. Regional Department of Water and Environmental Regulation officers identified areas of similar management requirements to define boundaries or aggregations of hydrographic subcatchments. Regions with notable management concerns both currently and possibly in the future were identified to become management subareas. Allocation subareas will be used in the calculation of sustainable yields, flow rates and ultimately these calculations will be available for water allocation and natural resource management decisions. In addition, native vegetation clearing values have been calculated for each of the subareas located within the extent of the South-West region of Western Australia, for input into the allocation process. The Surface Water subarea data was developed in order to give a clear understanding of surface water availability and to provide management tools to make good water allocation and natural resources management decisions.

Surface Water Management subareas for Western Australia were derived in consultation with the regional offices, and geometry is based on hydrographic catchments. Regional Department of Environment officers identified areas of similar management requirements to define boundaries or aggregations of hydrographic subcatchments. Regions with notable management concerns both currently and possibly in the future were identified to become management subareas. Management subareas will be used in the calculation of sustainable yields, flow rates and ultimately these calculations will be available for water allocation and natural resource management decisions. In addition, native vegetation clearing values have been calculated for each of the subareas located within the extent of the South-West region of Western Australia, for input into the allocation process. The Surface Water subarea data was developed in order to give a clear understanding of surface water availability and to provide management tools to make good water allocation and natural resources management decisions. Dataset was formerly known as Surface Water Management Subareas (DOW-021)

The catchment layer contains boundaries of watersheds where surfacewater drains to a common point into the sea or a major waterbody. Attributes include drainage division, basin (name and number), catchment name and drainage type. Related layers include sub-catchments, reservoir catchments and gauging station catchments.

For the purposes of groundwater resource management, the state of Western Australia is divided into groundwater areas proclaimed under the Rights in Water and Irrigation Act 1914. These groundwater areas are further subdivided into groundwater subareas. The subareas are not proclaimed, but are administrative boundaries used to manage the abstraction and licensing of groundwater resources.

The Water Districts data set contains the boundaries of Water Districts proclaimed under the Water Management Act 1999. The data set is made up of 5 categories of Water Districts. These are Irrigation Districts, Drainage Districts, Riverworks Districts, Hydro-Electric Districts & Water Supply Districts. Not all Water Supply Districts are included at this stage.

Surface Water Management Areas for Western Australia were derived in consultation with the regional offices, geometry is based on hydrographic subcatchments. Regional Department of Environment officers identified areas of similar management requirements to define boundaries. Management areas will be used for licencing and administrative purposes. Purpose: The Surface Water Management Area data was developed in order to give a clear understanding of surface water availability and to provide management tools to make good water allocation and natural resources management decisions. Dataset was formally known as Surface Water Management Areas (DOW-020)