The Kimberley–Perth Canal was a proposal to channel water from the Fitzroy River in the Kimberley region of Western Australia via the Pilbara, to the southwestern capital of Perth, a distance of approximately 3,700 kilometres (2,300 mi).
[2] In 2005, infrastructure company Tenix proposed the idea of a $2 billion, 7 m (23 ft) wide canal as a solution for Perth and the Western Australian region's water problems.
[5] In 2012, following Perth's driest July on record, Premier Barnett raised the proposal again, saying that "from a technical or engineering point of view, it's not difficult to do".
[6] The Fitzroy River, with its catchments fed by variable tropical rainfall, is reported to deliver 9,200 gigalitres of mean annual flow,[7] and at peak floods is stated as being "probably the largest river in Australia"[citation needed] when it has been reported to discharge up to 60,000 cubic metres per second into King Sound and the Indian Ocean.
[8] To prevent damage to the river, the surrounding environment and fish, surplus wet-season flood flow would be pumped from the river 60 kilometres (37 mi) inland from the coast and transported by canal, avoiding interference with the eco-sensitive flood plain, then stored by aquifer recharge in and re-gathered from the La Grange Aquifer – a 280-kilometre (170 mi) long natural underground lake – to provide a variable wet-season buffer supply.