The Rights in Water and Irrigation Act 1914 provides the Governor of Western Australia the power to proclaim or prescribe through regulation a Surface Water Area. A Surface Water Area is proclaimed for the purposes of regulating the taking of water from watercourses and wetlands. An area is proclaimed, or prescribed through regulations, where there is a need for systematic management of the use of water. The proclamation is made on the recommendation of the Department and must first be tabled before both Houses of Parliament. Proclaiming or prescribing an area has the effect of allowing the use of water for commercial activity under a licence. Where an area has been proclaimed, the provisions of Division 1B of Part III of the Act apply to surface water in that area. This allows comprehensive management of water uses in that area. This dataset defines the boundaries which are proclaimed as Irrigation Districts (IDs) under the Rights in Water and Irrigation Act, 1914 (RIWI Act). In addition to the boundary definition within the Act these areas are subject to Division 1B of the Act which implements licensing of water use from watercourses and wetlands in the area. Irrigation districts are areas where the Water Corporation or another service provider may construct work and supply water to land owners for irrigation purposes. This dataset is the result of combining three existing datasets; RIWI Areas, RIWI Irrigation Districts and RIWI Surface Water Areas. It replaces all three. This dataset was formerly known as RIWI Act, Surface Water Areas and Irrigation Districts (DOW-019)

Groundwater areas proclaimed under the Rights in Water and Irrigation Act, 1914. For the purposes of groundwater resource management, the state of Western Australia is divided into groundwater areas. The extraction and licensing of groundwater resources are managed within groundwater areas. This dataset was formerly known as RIWI Act, Groundwater Areas (DOW-012)

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.

This dataset is under review, please contact DWER for access to updated version. This dataset is a catalogue of current & historic boundaries of Water Allocation Plans and Statements and associated attributes. Each boundary indicates the area covered by the plan or statement. Water Allocation Plans may also be known as Water Management Plans. This dataset is intended to aid in water resource management.

As part of the stages of water restriction, the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation prepared a state map contained four different areas of water restrictions which are controlled by the Water Agency (Water Use) by-laws 2010. Dataset was formerly known as Sprinkler Restrictions - Water Agencies (Water Use) Bylaws (DOW-064)

This dataset is the Western Australian component of a national Drainage Divisions and Basins dataset overseen by the Australian Water Resources Council. It is part of a hierarchical order of 4 datasets ranging from Subcatchments through Catchments and Basins to Divisions. The Subcatchments, Catchments and Basins are hierarchically ordered subsets of the Divisions dataset. The drainage divisions of Western Australia, derived from catchment boundaries defined at various scales. This dataset is derived from a subset of lines from the Hydrographic Catchments - Subcatchments data. This dataset was formally known as Hydrographic Catchments - Divisions (DOW-016)

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)

This dataset is the Western Australian component of a national Drainage Divisions and Basins dataset overseen by the Australian Water Resources Council. It is part of a hierarchical order of 4 datasets ranging from Subcatchments through Catchments and Basins to Divisions. The Subcatchments, Catchments and Basins are hierarchically ordered subsets of the Divisions dataset. Catchment boundaries have been defined for more than 3400 key sites on streams throughout Western Australia. The Subcatchments dataset contains polygons from which the Catchment boundaries are derived. This catchments dataset is derived from this on the basis of the CATCH_NAME field, determined by the Scientific Custodian. This dataset was formerly known as Hydrographic Catchments - Catchments (DOW-014)

The Surface Water Resources (SWR) dataset was created to assist licensing and management of surface water in Western Australia. A surface water resource represents the smallest area to which water is managed. Surface water resources are the boundaries to which allocation limits are set. The SWR dataset was derived from the Surfacewater Allocation Subareas (WRIMS) dataset and SDL catchments dataset, resource boundaries align with mapping shown in all draft and current Water Allocation Plans.

This dataset is the Western Australian component of a national Drainage Divisions and Basins dataset overseen by the Australian Water Resources Council. It is part of a hierarchical order of 4 datasets ranging from Subcatchments through Catchments and Basins to Divisions. The Subcatchments, Catchments and Basins are hierarchically ordered subsets of the Divisions dataset. Catchment boundaries have been defined for more than 3400 key sites on streams throughout Western Australia. The Subcatchments dataset contains polygons derived from all the defined boundaries, while the Catchment, basin and division polygons are based on subsets of the same boundaries. This dataset was formerly known as Hydrographic Catchments - Subcatchments (DOW-015)