The Leederville Aquifer is a significant freshwater

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...

located in the south west of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

and predominantly beneath the

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

west of the Darling Scarp. It is located above the

Yarragadee Aquifer The Yarragadee Aquifer is a significant freshwater aquifer located in the south west of Western Australia and predominantly beneath the Swan Coastal Plain west of the Darling Scarp. It has a north–south range from about Geraldton to the south coa ...

, and beneath two superficial aquifers known as the

Gnangara Mound The Gnangara Mound is an area north of Perth, Western Australia where a large mound of sandy soil reaches an elevation of about . It stores about of fresh water, about one hundred times Perth's current annual water usage. It is currently the si ...

and

Jandakot Mound The Jandakot Mound, or Jandakot Groundwater Mound, is an unconfined aquifer in south-western Western Australia. It is the smaller of the two main shallow aquifers near Perth (the other being the Gnangara Mound, north of the Swan River) that toge ...

. These aquifers are separated by impervious layers with no groundwater, called

aquitard An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...

s. The aquifer is several hundred meters thick and in some places reaches the surface. Water extracted from this aquifer is used in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

's water supply. It is ultimately replenished by rainwater, however in recent years the state government has supplemented this by also pumping treated wastewater into the aquifer.

References

Aquifers in Australia Swan Coastal Plain Water supply and sanitation in Western Australia {{Australia-geology-stub

See also

References