ABSTRACT
The sustainability assessment of the proposed South West Yarragadee Water Supply Development in 2004-2007 was the second such assessment of a complex and strategic project undertaken in Western Australia in accordance with commitments made in the Western Australian State Sustainability Strategy (Government of Western Australia, 2003a). It followed the much-criticized integrated strategic assessment of the proposed Gorgon gas development on Barrow Island, the greatest success of which was highlighting the challenges associated with assessing a project through the lens of sustainability (Pope, 2007). In the spirit of learning by doing, the South West Yarragadee (hereafter SWY) assessment process embodied a number of notable improvements over the Gorgon process.
