Legal Rights to Take Water for Managed Aquifer Recharge Projects in Western Australia

"As pressures on water resources increase. new strategies must be developed to supplement natural groundwater resources and increase water availability". One such strategy is the implementation of managed aquifer recharge (MAR) projects, defined in the Australian Managed Aquifer Recharge Guidelines as the purposeful recharge of an aquifer using a source of water under controlled conditions in order to store the water for later use or for environmental benefit, while protecting human health and the environment. This article explores the laws governing the taking of water to recharge into an aquifer for MAR projects, and the guidance provided on those laws by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation's 2011 MAR Policy, and demonstrates that the laws regulating rights to take water are complex and argues that reform is required to ensure that MAR projects are not hampered by a proponent's inability to secure the required rights to take water.