Melbourne Water

Melbourne Water
Statutory authority overview
Formed1992; 34 years ago (1992)
Preceding agencies
JurisdictionWater supply and sewerage in Greater Metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria
Headquarters
Minister responsible
Websitemelbournewater.com.au

Melbourne Water is an Australian statutory authority owned by the Victorian government, which controls and manages much of the water bodies and supplies in metropolitan Melbourne, the capital of Victoria. Its jurisdiction includes all the reservoirs, lakes, wetlands, canals and urban creeks, and the sewerage and drainage systems that services the city.

Melbourne Water was formed by the merger of Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works and a number of smaller urban water authorities by the Melbourne Water Corporation Act 1992 (No. 54 of 1992). Melbourne Water primarily operates under the Water Industry Act 1994 and the Water Act 1989.

Overview

Melbourne Water is wholly owned by the Victorian government. It manages Melbourne's water supply catchments, sewage, rivers and major drainage systems throughout the Port Phillip and Westernport region. Governance of Melbourne Water is by an independent board of directors in conjunction with the Minister for Water.

Melbourne Water supplies water to the metropolitan retail water businesses; namely, Greater Western Water, South East Water and Yarra Valley Water, other water authorities, local councils and the land development industry. The Victorian Water Industry Association (VicWater) is the peak industry association for water companies in Victoria.

In 1994, Melbourne Parks and Waterways was separated from Melbourne Water, and became part of Parks Victoria in 1996.

Victorian Desalination Plant

The Victorian Desalination Plant is an A$3.1 billion desalination plant that was built in the Wonthaggi region of the Bass Coast. The plant can provide an additional 150 gigalitres (5.3×109 cu ft) of water each year. The base fee payable to the owner of the plant, even if no water is ordered, is $608 million a year, or $1.8 million per day, for 27 years, being between $18- and $19 billion in total. On 1 April each year, the Minister for Water places an order for the following financial year, up to 150 GL (5.3×109 cu ft) a year, at an additional cost to Melbourne Water and consumers.

Northern Sewerage Project

Northern Sewerage Project is a major infrastructure project to increase the capacity of the sewerage system in Melbourne's growing northern suburbs. It will also help protect the Merri and Moonee Ponds Creeks by virtually eliminating sewage overflows that can occur after heavy rain.

Water restrictions

Melbourne Water has a system of restrictions to manage water supplies into the future. It reports on storage levels on Thursday each week while an interactive graph compares actual use. Further reviews of restrictions were needed to counter an ongoing drought, poor rainfall, record low storage levels and rising water use compared with past years.

Infrastructure

The water supply system operated and managed by Melbourne Water comprises:

Water storages

Silvan Reservoir

Melbourne Water manages the ten Melbourne reservoirs. The total storage capacity is 1,810,500 megalitres (63,940×10^6 cu ft).

Melbourne reservoirs
ReservoirCapacityYear completedLocation
MLacre ft
Cardinia287,000233,0001973 37°57′49″S 145°24′37″E / 37.9637°S 145.4102°E / -37.9637; 145.4102 (Cardinia Reservoir)
Greenvale27,00022,0001971 37°37′53″S 144°54′17″E / 37.63139°S 144.90472°E / -37.63139; 144.90472 (Greenvale Reservoir)
Maroondah22,00018,0001927 37°38′05″S 145°33′47″E / 37.63472°S 145.56306°E / -37.63472; 145.56306 (Maroondah Reservoir)
O'Shannassy3,0002,4001928 37°40′30″S 145°48′20″E / 37.67500°S 145.80556°E / -37.67500; 145.80556 (O'Shannassy Reservoir)
Silvan40,00032,0001932 37°50′S 145°25′E / 37.833°S 145.417°E / -37.833; 145.417 (Silvan Reservoir)
Sugarloaf96,00078,0001981 37°40′30″S 145°18′18″E / 37.6749°S 145.3051°E / -37.6749; 145.3051 (Sugarloaf Reservoir)
Tarago37,50030,4001969 38°1′S 145°56′E / 38.017°S 145.933°E / -38.017; 145.933 (Tarago Reservoir)
Thomson1,068,000866,000198337°50′34″S 146°23′56″E / 37.84278°S 146.39889°E / -37.84278; 146.39889 (Thomson Reservoir)
Upper Yarra200,000160,0001957 37°41′S 145°55′E / 37.683°S 145.917°E / -37.683; 145.917 (Upper Yarra Reservoir)
Yan Yean30,00024,0001857 37°33′S 145°08′E / 37.550°S 145.133°E / -37.550; 145.133 (Yan Yean Reservoir)

Water supply catchments

Around 80% of Melbourne's water is sourced from uninhabited forests in the Yarra Ranges and Central Highlands. In excess of 1,570 square kilometres (610 sq mi) is reserved for water catchment. These forests primarily consist of mountain ash. Catchment areas have been closed to the public for over 100 years .

Major catchments
CatchmentAreaInflow (%)Comments
haacre
Maroondah16,54040,90010.8 within the Yarra Ranges National Park
O'Shannassy11,87029,30011.4 within the Yarra Ranges National Park
Sugarloaf0010.7 water is pumped from the Yarra River and fully treated
Thomson48,700120,00035.3mainly State Forest and a small section within Baw Baw National Park
Upper Yarra33,67083,20018.7 within the Yarra Ranges National Park
Wallaby9,10022,0001.9 within the Kinglake National Park
Yarra tributaries13,48033,3003.8 Armstrong, Cement, McMahons and Starvation Creeks (State Forest)
Total92.6

In addition to the reservoirs in the table above, water is harvested via a number of diversion weirs:

Point Coordinates
(links to map & photo sources)		 Notes
Armstrong Creek Weir 37°38′13″S 145°51′36″E / 37.637°S 145.860°E / -37.637; 145.860 (Armstrong Creek Weir) To Silvan Reservoir
Armstrong Creek – East Branch Weir 37°38′17″S 145°51′50″E / 37.638°S 145.864°E / -37.638; 145.864 (Armstrong Creek – East Branch Weir) To Silvan Reservoir
Badger Creek Weir 37°41′10″S 145°34′55″E / 37.686°S 145.582°E / -37.686; 145.582 (Badger Creek Weir) To Silvan Reservoir
Cement Creek Weir 37°43′S 145°45′E / 37.71°S 145.75°E / -37.71; 145.75 (Cement Creek Weir) To Silvan Reservoir
Donnelly Weir 37°37′41″S 145°32′10″E / 37.628°S 145.536°E / -37.628; 145.536 (Donnelly Weir) To Maroondah Aqueduct
Grace Burn Creek Weir 37°39′18″S 145°34′26″E / 37.655°S 145.574°E / -37.655; 145.574 (Grace Burn Creek Weir) To Maroondah Reservoir
McMahons Creek Weir 37°43′S 145°53′E / 37.72°S 145.88°E / -37.72; 145.88 (McMahons Creek Weir) To Silvan Reservoir
Sawpit Creek Weir 37°38′02″S 145°32′31″E / 37.634°S 145.542°E / -37.634; 145.542 (Sawpit Creek Weir) To Maroondah Aqueduct
Silver Creek Weir 37°21′22″S 145°12′35″E / 37.356171°S 145.209854°E / -37.356171; 145.209854 (Silver Creek Weir) To Toorourrong Reservoir
Starvation Creek Weir 37°46′S 145°51′E / 37.76°S 145.85°E / -37.76; 145.85 (Starvation Creek Weir) To Silvan Reservoir
Toorourrong Reservoir 37°28′32″S 145°09′08″E / 37.475430°S 145.152296°E / -37.475430; 145.152296 (Toorourrong Reservoir)
Wallaby Creek Weir 37°24′16″S 145°14′48″E / 37.404495°S 145.246650°E / -37.404495; 145.246650 (Wallaby Creek Weir) To Toorourrong Reservoir

Clearfell logging is permitted in the Yarra Tributaries and Thomson catchment areas. Some studies claims this reduces Melbourne's water supply arguing that young regrowth forest uses more water than existing forests. Some environmental groups claim that up to 30,000 megalitres (1,100×10^6 cu ft) of water could be saved per annum by phasing out logging. This represents 6% of Melbourne's annual usage.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "About Us: Who We Are". Melbourne Water.
  2. ↑ "About Us: Our Customers". Melbourne Water.
  3. ↑ "About us". Melbourne Water.
  4. ↑ Rood, David (4 February 2008). "In the eye of the storm". The Age.
  5. ↑ "Current Projects: Water Supply: Seawater Desalination Plant: Seawater Desalination Plant". Melbourne Water. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
  6. ↑ "Microsoft Word – 132863.doc" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 April 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
  7. ↑ "How much you'll pay to turn desalination plant on in Wonthaggi". Herald-Sun. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  8. 1 2 "Victorians pay dearly, but not a drop to drink". ABC News. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  9. ↑ "Water: Weekly Water Update: Weekly Water Update". Melbourne Water. Archived from the original on 24 September 2005.
  10. ↑ "Water: Water Storages: Water Storages". Melbourne Water.
  11. ↑ "Water Catchments". Melbourne Water. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  12. ↑ "Water Supply Catchment Protection". Department of Primary Industries. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  13. 1 2 Dudley, Nigel; Stolton, Sue; Asante-Owusu, Rachel (2003). Running pure: the importance of forest protected areas to drinking water (PDF). World Bank/WWF Alliance for Forest Conservation and Sustainable Use. pp. 74–77. ISBN 978-2-88085-262-7. Retrieved 22 November 2011.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Feikema, Paul; Lane, Patrick; Peel, Murray; Sherwin, Chris; Freebairn, Andrew; Salkin, Owen (October 2006), Hydrological studies into the impact of timber harvesting on water yield in state forests supplying water to Melbourne – Part 1 of Hydrological studies, eWater Cooperative Research CentrePart 1a Archived 2011-03-27 at the Wayback Machine Part 1b Archived 2011-03-27 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ "Logging rainforest within the Melbourne's domestic water supply catchments". Victorian Rainforest Network.
  16. ↑ "National water week demonstrations expose logging in Melbourne's water supply". The Wilderness Society.
  17. ↑ "[Untitled document]". TCHA.org.au. Archived from the original on 20 August 2006. Retrieved 5 January 2007.
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