The Water Corporation is required to conduct routine maintenance on its network of water pipelines, including in the Goldfields and Agricultural Regions (GAR).  In 2019 it identified 242 km of pipelines that would require maintenance in the short-term and appointed Ecoscape to design and conduct ecological surveys of these pipe sections that were located in the Wheatbelt between Pithara, Kellerberrin, Quairading and Wundowie.  The survey area consisted of a 5 m-wide corridor either side of the pipelines.  As formal environmental approvals are generally not required for routine maintenance, the surveys concentrated on identifying the significant environmental values present in a cost-efficient manner and did not include quadrat-based vegetation assessments.  The significant environmental values recorded were the presence of Threatened and Priority Flora, Threatened and Priority Ecological Communities, primarily the Eucalypt Woodlands of the Western Australian Wheatbelt (‘Wheatbelt Woodlands’) TEC, good condition fauna habitat, and riparian and wetland areas.

Except for a few small areas through private property, the entire pipeline extent was traversed, with the better-condition, more vegetated areas, traversed on foot and degraded road verges assessed from a slow-moving vehicle.  The survey was conducted during spring 2019.

Sixteen conservation-listed flora species were recorded, including two Threatened Flora species, within the survey area corridor.  Most of the pipelines were located within degraded road verges, however, some also traversed vegetation that was representative of the Wheatbelt Woodlands TEC.  Ecoscape provided the Water Corporation with advice regarding areas having significant value as good condition fauna habitat, and identified riparian and wetland areas.  Identification of these areas will permit the Water Corporation to minimise impacts on areas having significant environmental values during routine maintenance in the GAR.