Melbourne Water System Strategy Melbourne Water 990 La Trobe Street, Docklands, Vic 3008 PO Box 4342 Melbourne Victoria 3001 Telephone 131 722 Facsimile 03 9679 7099 melbournewater.com.au ISBN 978-1-925541-07-6 © Copyright March 2017 Melbourne Water Corporation. All rights reserved. No part of the document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, photocopied or otherwise dealt with without prior written permission of Melbourne Water Corporation. Disclaimer: This publication may be of assistance to you but Melbourne Water and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. All actions in this strategy will be delivered subject to funding. Foreword Making our city liveable and sustainable is a shared responsibility. Water is essential to making Melbourne a vibrant, liveable and During the development of the Melbourne Water System sustainable city both now and in the future. It underpins the Strategy we worked closely with our customers, government health of people and the environment, enhances community and the community. Collaboration will also be essential to well-being, and supports economic growth and jobs. implementing the Melbourne Water System Strategy – a liveable Our growing city and changing climate present challenges for city is built through strong and effective partnerships. managing water resources across Melbourne and the Throughout the implementation of this strategy, we will use surrounding region. the latest available information and projections, and adapt our approach to ensure it remains aligned with community needs This Melbourne Water System Strategy describes how we will and expectations as we meet the challenges of Australia’s fastest continue to work together with our partners, customers and growing city in a changing climate. the community to make Melbourne a great place to live in the face of these challenges. In this strategy we take a long-term We will continue to deliver safe, affordable, and reliable water view, considering the water resource management challenges services to all our customers, enhancing life and liveability across and opportunities across the Greater Melbourne region over Melbourne and the surrounding region. the next 50 years. The strategy outlines an adaptive portfolio approach: we will make the most of the water supply system, support the community to use water even more efficiently, diversify the sources of water we use, and optimise the water grid and market. This is one of our key strategies that collectively outline our contribution to implementing the Victorian Government’s water plan, Water for Victoria and that guide our vital contribution to the daily lives of Melburnians through a commitment to healthy people, places and John Thwaites Michael Wandmaker the environment. Chairman Managing Director Melbourne Water System Strategy 1 Aboriginal acknowledgement Melbourne Water proudly acknowledges Aboriginal people as Australia’s first peoples and the local Traditional Owners as the original custodians of the land and water on which we rely and operate. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and future. We acknowledge the continued cultural, social and spiritual connections that Aboriginal people have with the lands and waters, and recognise and value that the Traditional Owner groups have cared for and protected them for thousands of generations. In the spirit of reconciliation, we remain committed to working in partnership with local Traditional Owners to ensure their ongoing contribution to the future of the water management landscape while maintaining their cultural and spiritual connections. 2 Melbourne Water System Strategy Contents Summary 4 Appendix A 106 1 Introduction 10 Appendix B 114 Appendix C 122 The challenges we face 23 Abbreviations 123 2 Our growing and changing region 24 Glossary 123 3 Our changing and variable climate 36 Endnotes 128 Meeting the challenges 53 4 Making the most of the water supply system 54 5 Using water efficiently 72 6 Using diverse sources of water 82 7 Optimising the water grid and market 94 Melbourne Water System Strategy 3 Summary Melbourne Water treats and supplies drinking and recycled water, removes and treats most of Melbourne’s sewage, and manages waterways and major drainage systems across the Port Phillip and Westernport region. Our vision is ‘Enhancing Life and Liveability’. The services Melbourne Water provides are integral Southern Rural Water, the Victorian Environmental to the liveability of Melbourne and the surrounding region, Water Holder, developers, local governments, and state and underpinning public health and safety, and supporting active Commonwealth governments. We engage extensively with transport links, recreation, urban cooling, and a sense of the community of Melbourne to understand and embrace community and place. their needs. Throughout this strategy, the importance of working together with our customers and stakeholders to There are many stakeholders and customers of our services provide integrated and valued services to the community with whom we work in partnership: the community, Traditional is a key theme. Owners, retail water corporations, regional water corporations, Developing the Melbourne Water System Strategy Challenges we face This strategy explores two key challenges affecting Melbourne The Melbourne Water System Strategy presents a system view Water’s management of water resources: of water resource management across Melbourne and the surrounding region over the next 50 years. • our growing and changing region • our changing and variable climate. This strategy addresses the requirements of the Statement of Obligations issued by the Minister for Water, and the associated Guidelines for the Development of Urban Water Strategies A changing and growing region and the Melbourne Water System Strategy prepared by the Over the next 50 years, the population of Melbourne and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning1. The surrounding region will continue to grow. Although it is growing Melbourne Water System Strategy also outlines Melbourne rapidly around the edges, metropolitan Melbourne is also Water’s contribution to implementing relevant policy directions becoming an increasingly dense city. Having access to safe, set by Water for Victoria, the Victorian Government’s water plan. affordable water – for households, businesses, and other users, and for keeping our open spaces green – is essential for We face a number of challenges as we look toward 2065. Melbourne as a vibrant, growing city. At the same time, we need This strategy explores the challenges we face, and outlines to ensure our waterways and wetlands receive the environmental an adaptive portfolio approach to meeting the challenges: water they need to thrive. making the most of the water supply system, using water efficiently, using diverse sources of water, and optimising A changing and variable climate the water grid and market. To plan and manage Melbourne’s water resources we need This strategy identifies key directions and opportunities for to understand the relationship between climate and water Melbourne Water over the next 50 years, and is structured availability from our assets. We live in a variable climate: research around two key groups of challenges, and the four elements suggests that there have been regular droughts in Australia of our portfolio approach illustrated in Figure 1 below. for thousands of years2. Our growing Making the Our changing Using water Using diverse and changing most of the water and variable efficiently sources of water region supply system climate Optimising the water grid and market Figure 1. The Melbourne Water System Strategy explores the challenges we face and outlines an adaptive portfolio approach to meeting the challenges 4 Melbourne Water System Strategy We need to be prepared for droughts – potentially even droughts Using water efficiently more significant than the Millennium Drought we observed The Millennium Drought from 1997 to 2009 highlighted that between 1997 and 2009. Victoria’s climate is changing, and water from any source is a valuable resource, which we need will continue to change in the future, leading to an expected to use efficiently. Melburnians made some great achievements long-term decline in rainfall over our water supply catchments. during the Millennium Drought, with water consumption To plan our water needs, we need to know how much water decreasing by more than 30% between 1997 and 2009 despite we can expect from the water supply system and compare the population growth that occurred during that time – around this against our long-term demand scenarios. We also need 500,000 additional people in Melbourne. Building on these to plan for impacts on water quality, waterway health, achievements, there may still be opportunities to use water more stormwater and sewage. efficiently. The community expect an ongoing focus on water efficiency – not just during droughts. Meeting the challenges The water supply system we depend on today has been shaped Using diverse sources of water by the foresight and planning of earlier generations. Since 1857, Rainwater, stormwater and recycled water are valuable resources when Melbourne’s first water supply reservoir was completed which can potentially be used to reduce