KARRATHA- The water supply for the West Pilbara is running dry. After being revealed earlier this year that the Harding Dam was at only 22% capacity, and with groundwater supplies supplying the water scheme for 12 months, potable water in the area is in a dire state. The West Pilbara water supply scheme supplies the towns and port facilities of Karratha, Dampier, Roebourne, Wickham, Point Sampson and Cape Lambert. This morning, the town of Wickham, which contains over 2000 people -- 17.2% of them Aboriginal- ran out of water, with potable water supplies having to be brought in by truck. Water restrictions are being put in place for the other towns on the water supply scheme to avoid further crises, but it's looking dim without further intervention. A representative for Rio Tinto -- who manages the Bungaroo borehole- told ABC News that she expected the situation to worsen over summer, with the cyclones that the water supply usually relies on unlikely to arrive. She told us that it was "probable" that the town of Karratha, with over 16,000 people, could run out of water before the end of summer.

The mayor of the City of Karratha, which covers not only Karratha but much of the areas under the water supply scheme, Peter Long, told ABC News that "we urgently need assistance from the government. The situation that Wickham residents find themselves in is terrible, and we cannot risk the over 20,000 residents of the City of Karratha losing access to water." Some residents found the situation unfair, with one Karratha local telling us that they thought harsher water restrictions should be put in place for Perth. "If we're going to be struggling for drops, then they'd better have enough to give us instead of it being pissed all away."