Water sackings 'won't hurt service': Minister

WATER Minister Mia Davies has defended Water Corporation redundancies in regional areas, saying it will not affect services.

Opposition Leader Mark McGowan used his visit to Bunbury last week to highlight "job cuts" in the Water Corporation.

He said the corporation's annual report revealed there were 155 fewer jobs in regional WA in 2014/15, compared with the previous financial year.

Capital expenditure also fell from $666 million in 2013/14 compared with $345 million in 2014/15.

"I was in Capel talking to councillors and they want effort put into infill sewerage but unfortunately because of the cuts to the Water Corporation, that will be very difficult for that community to have that put in place," he said.

Ms Davies said that from June 30, 2014 to June 30 this year, a total of 32 regionally based Water Corporation employees had been made redundant.

"The corporation is transitioning from a capital-intensive phase of infrastructure investment to a renewed focus on efficient operations and maintenance and delivery of services to customers," Ms Davies said.

She said there were seven employee redundancies during the past financial year in the South West.

"These roles were not employed in field base roles - five were from the regional customer services group and two were water efficiency project officers and were located in major regional centres," she said.