Melbourne Water was formed by the merger of Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works and a number of smaller urban water authorities in 1992. Melbourne Water primarily operates under the Water Industry Act 1994 and the Water Act 1989.[1]
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, City West Water, South East Water and Yarra Valley Water[2]), other water authorities, local councils and the land development industry.[3] 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 PlantEdit
The Victorian Desalination Plant is a A$3.1 billion desalination plant that was built in the Wonthaggi region of the Bass Coast.[4] The plant can provide an additional 150 gigalitres of water each year.[5][6] The base fee payable to the owner of the plant, even if no water is ordered, is $608 million a year,[7] or $1.8 million per day, for 27 years. being between $18 and $19 billion in total.[8] On 1 April each year, the Minister for Water places an order for the following financial year, up to 150 gigalitres a year, at an additional cost to Melbourne Water and consumers.[8]
Northern Sewerage ProjectEdit
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.
Melbourne Water has a system of restrictions to manage water supplies into the future. It reports on storage levels on Thursday each week[9] 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.
InfrastructureEdit
The water supply system operated and managed by Melbourne Water comprises:
catchments covering more than 140,000 hectares.
ten major storage reservoirs with a capacity of 1,810,500 megalitres.
64 service reservoirs that provide short-term storage.
about 1300 kilometres of distribution mains and aqueducts.
18 water pumping stations, used to pump water from low-lying areas to higher areas.
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 is reserved for water catchment. These forests primarily consist of Mountain Ash. Catchment areas have been closed to the public for over 100 years .[11][12][13]
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 forest[14][15][16] Some environmental groups claim that up to 30 thousand megalitres of water could be saved per annum by phasing out logging. This represents 6% of Melbourne's annual usage.[17]
^Rood, David (4 February 2008). "In the eye of the storm". The Age. Melbourne.
^. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
^(PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 April 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
^"Subscribe to the Herald Sun". www.heraldsun.com.au. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
^ ab"Victorians pay dearly, but not a drop to drink". ABC News. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
^. www.melbournewater.com.au. Archived from the original on 24 September 2005.
^Melbourne Water : Water : Water Storages : Water Storages
^ "Water Catchments". Melbourne Water. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
^ Department of Primary Industries. "Water Supply Catchment Protection". dpi.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
^ ab 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, ISBN978-2-88085-262-7, retrieved 22 November 2011
^ abcdef 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 Centre Part 1a 2011-03-27 at the Wayback Machine Part 1b 2011-03-27 at the Wayback Machine
^Logging rainforest within the Melbourne's domestic water supply catchments, Victorian Rainforest Network
^National water week demonstrations expose logging in Melbourne's water supply, The Wilderness Society
^. Archived from the original on 20 August 2006. Retrieved 5 January 2007.
October 14, 2023
melbourne, water, victorian, government, owned, statutory, authority, that, controls, manages, much, water, bodies, supplies, metropolitan, melbourne, victoria, australia, including, reservoirs, lakes, wetlands, canals, urban, creeks, sewerage, drainage, syste. Melbourne Water is a Victorian Government owned statutory authority that controls and manages much of the water bodies and supplies in metropolitan Melbourne Victoria Australia including the reservoirs lakes wetlands canals and urban creeks and the sewerage and drainage systems that services the city Melbourne WaterAgency overviewFormed1992JurisdictionGovernment of VictoriaHeadquartersMelbourne Victoria AustraliaAgency executivesNerina Di Lorenzo Managing DirectorJohn Thwaites Chairman of the BoardWebsitewww melbournewater com auMelbourne Water was formed by the merger of Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works and a number of smaller urban water authorities in 1992 Melbourne Water primarily operates under the Water Industry Act 1994 and the Water Act 1989 1 Contents 1 Overview 1 1 Victorian Desalination Plant 1 2 Northern Sewerage Project 2 Water restrictions 3 Infrastructure 3 1 Water storages 3 2 Water supply catchments 4 See also 5 External links 6 ReferencesOverview EditMelbourne Water is wholly owned by the Victorian State 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 City West Water South East Water and Yarra Valley Water 2 other water authorities local councils and the land development industry 3 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 Edit The Victorian Desalination Plant is a A 3 1 billion desalination plant that was built in the Wonthaggi region of the Bass Coast 4 The plant can provide an additional 150 gigalitres of water each year 5 6 The base fee payable to the owner of the plant even if no water is ordered is 608 million a year 7 or 1 8 million per day for 27 years being between 18 and 19 billion in total 8 On 1 April each year the Minister for Water places an order for the following financial year up to 150 gigalitres a year at an additional cost to Melbourne Water and consumers 8 Northern Sewerage Project Edit 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 EditSee also Water restrictions in Australia Melbourne Water has a system of restrictions to manage water supplies into the future It reports on storage levels on Thursday each week 9 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 EditThe water supply system operated and managed by Melbourne Water comprises catchments covering more than 140 000 hectares ten major storage reservoirs with a capacity of 1 810 500 megalitres 64 service reservoirs that provide short term storage about 1300 kilometres of distribution mains and aqueducts 18 water pumping stations used to pump water from low lying areas to higher areas five water filtration plants 49 water treatment disinfection plants Water storages Edit nbsp Silvan ReservoirMelbourne Water manages the ten Melbourne reservoirs The total storage capacity is 1 810 500 megalitres 10 Melbourne reservoirs Reservoir Capacity ML Year completed LocationThomson 1 068 000 1983 37 50 34 S 146 23 56 E 37 84278 S 146 39889 E 37 84278 146 39889 Thomson Reservoir Sugarloaf 96 000 1981 37 40 30 S 145 18 18 E 37 6749 S 145 3051 E 37 6749 145 3051 Sugarloaf Reservoir Cardinia 287 000 1973 37 57 49 S 145 24 37 E 37 9637 S 145 4102 E 37 9637 145 4102 Cardinia Reservoir Greenvale 27 000 1971 37 37 53 S 144 54 17 E 37 63139 S 144 90472 E 37 63139 144 90472 Greenvale Reservoir Tarago 37 500 1969 38 1 S 145 56 E 38 017 S 145 933 E 38 017 145 933 Tarago Reservoir Upper Yarra 200 000 1957 37 41 S 145 55 E 37 683 S 145 917 E 37 683 145 917 Upper Yarra Reservoir Silvan 40 000 1932 37 50 S 145 25 E 37 833 S 145 417 E 37 833 145 417 Silvan Reservoir O Shannassy 3 000 1928 37 40 30 S 145 48 20 E 37 67500 S 145 80556 E 37 67500 145 80556 O Shannassy Reservoir Maroondah 22 000 1927 37 38 05 S 145 33 47 E 37 63472 S 145 56306 E 37 63472 145 56306 Maroondah Reservoir Yan Yean 30 000 1857 37 33 S 145 08 E 37 550 S 145 133 E 37 550 145 133 Yan Yean Reservoir Water supply catchments Edit 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 is reserved for water catchment These forests primarily consist of Mountain Ash Catchment areas have been closed to the public for over 100 years 11 12 13 Major catchments 13 Catchment Area ha Inflow CommentThomson 48700 35 3 mainly State Forest and a small section within Baw Baw National ParkUpper Yarra 33670 18 7 within the Yarra Ranges National ParkO Shannassy 11870 11 4 within the Yarra Ranges National ParkMaroondah 16540 10 8 within the Yarra Ranges National ParkSugarloaf 0 10 7 water is pumped from the Yarra River and fully treatedYarra Tributaries 13480 3 8 Armstrong Cement McMahons and Starvation Creeks State Forest Wallaby 9100 1 9 within the Kinglake National ParkTotal 92 6In addition to the reservoirs in the table above water is harvested via a number of diversion weirs Point Coordinates links to map amp photo sources NotesSilver 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 ReservoirWallaby 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 ReservoirToorourrong Reservoir 37 28 32 S 145 09 08 E 37 475430 S 145 152296 E 37 475430 145 152296 Toorourrong 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 AqueductSawpit 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 AqueductGrace 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 ReservoirBadger 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 ReservoirArmstrong 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 14 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 14 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 14 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 14 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 14 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 forest 14 15 16 Some environmental groups claim that up to 30 thousand megalitres of water could be saved per annum by phasing out logging This represents 6 of Melbourne s annual usage 17 See also EditWater management in Victoria Lakes and Reservoirs in Melbourne List of reservoirs and dams in Australia Western Treatment Plant Eastern Treatment Plant Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities CouncilExternal links EditMap all coordinates using OpenStreetMapDownload coordinates as KML GPX all coordinates GPX primary coordinates GPX secondary coordinates Melbourne Water Yarra Valley Water South East Water City West Water Victorian Water Industry Association VicWater References Edit Melbourne Water About Us Who We Are Who We Are Melbourne Water About Us Our Customers Our Customers Melbourne Water about us Rood David 4 February 2008 In the eye of the storm The Age Melbourne Melbourne Water Current Projects Water Supply Seawater Desalination Plant Seawater Desalination Plant Archived from the original on 20 July 2008 Retrieved 19 January 2008 Microsoft Word 132863 doc PDF Archived from the original PDF on 9 April 2008 Retrieved 19 January 2008 Subscribe to the Herald Sun www heraldsun com au Retrieved 15 September 2016 a b Victorians pay dearly but not a drop to drink ABC News 18 December 2012 Retrieved 2 January 2013 Melbourne Water Water Weekly Water Update Weekly Water Update www melbournewater com au Archived from the original on 24 September 2005 Melbourne Water Water Water Storages Water Storages Water Catchments Melbourne Water Retrieved 22 November 2011 Department of Primary Industries Water Supply Catchment Protection dpi vic gov au Retrieved 30 September 2011 a b 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 a b c d e f 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 Centre Part 1a Archived 2011 03 27 at the Wayback Machine Part 1b Archived 2011 03 27 at the Wayback Machine Logging rainforest within the Melbourne s domestic water supply catchments Victorian Rainforest Network National water week demonstrations expose logging in Melbourne s water supply The Wilderness Society Untitled Document Archived from the original on 20 August 2006 Retrieved 5 January 2007 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Melbourne Water amp oldid 1175889886, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
