The Western Australian government has been warned not to "gamble" with Derby's drinking water under a new plan to manage groundwater extraction in the Kimberley region.

The state government is currently considering public submissions on its draft Fitzroy-Derby Water Resources Management Plan. Once finalised, the plan will govern how the region's groundwater is used, including allocations for industry.

The draft Plan proposes locking in over-extraction of about 1.33 billion litres a year; more than double the estimated natural recharge of about 0.57 billion litres a year.

Advocates say families living in Derby are anxious because "there's no clear plan to secure the water they need in the groundwater-dependent town".

Environs Kimberley noted in a statement on Monday that locals know what it's like to lose their water supply because it's happened to them before; when in 2002 overextraction caused salt water from nearby King Sound to contaminate the underground freshwater on which they relied. The town was forced to switch to a different aquifer but there are fears history could repeat itself.

Professor Anne Poelina, a Nyikina, Warrwa and Warlunguru woman and Executive Chair of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council, said the Kimberley region has the second highest tides in the world and Derby's history of saltwater intrusion, alongside the community's growing water needs, shows how critical it is to secure safe supplies for the future.

"Saltwater is moving into Derby's freshwater aquifer. Country is increasingly under stress. Any water plan must put Kimberley families, local knowledge and businesses front and centre," she said.

"We must act now before irreversible harm is done. Extracting ancient groundwater risks short-term interests ahead of people, Country, and the sustainability of future generations.

"Water security is at risk from development in the Pilbara. Good water planning must acknowledge aquifers do not recognise lines on a map. Indigenous knowledge has been developed over thousands of years of lived experience. It is fundamental to the adaptive management of this River system."

Environs Kimberley Executive Director Martin Pritchard said that for many years, extraction has outstripped groundwater replenishment rates.

"The government must avoid repeating the mistakes of the past by allowing another Kimberley aquifer to be overdrawn," Mr Pritchard said.

"Any proposal to take more water before fully understanding the impacts of over-extraction poses an unacceptable risk to people and the region's precious ecosystems, which also need groundwater to survive.

"A genuinely precautionary approach would protect Derby's drinking water and groundwater-dependent ecosystems first and only consider additional irrigation allocations once the science shows it's sustainable."

Mr Pritchard said the same groundwater that supplies the people of Derby also feeds wetlands and freshwater springs, and sustains the mangroves and seagrass that support fish, turtles and dugongs, and the government still lacks a complete understanding of how these ecosystems depend on groundwater.

"Yet the draft plan would allow expanded extraction in the Derby region," he said.

"That approach places both the community's water security and the Kimberley's natural heritage at risk. You cannot protect what has not been properly understood."

Environs Kimberley urged the WA Government to: Establish a clear transition plan for the Derby Peninsula, with defined timelines and specific triggers or thresholds for action before irreversible damage occurs; Invest in community consultation and costed options for water recycling, desalination, and relocation of supply bores to genuinely sustainable locations; Create a more comprehensive network of monitoring bores and invest in robust modelling to improve understanding of groundwater conditions and risks; and allocate water based on the best available science and priority of need, securing drinking water and protecting groundwater-dependent ecosystems before allocating water to large-scale industry.

WA Water Minister, Daniel Pastorelli, who took on the portfolio last Monday, told National Indigenous Times he is "looking forward to meeting with community and stakeholders across the Kimberley".

"Public consultation on the draft management plan recently closed, and the Cook Government will consider submissions prior to making a final decision," he said.