Melbourne’s Water Catchments Water Melbourne’s This book charts the history of the water catchments and water supply for the city of Melbourne, which has many unique aspects that are a critical part of the history of Melbourne, Victoria and Australia. Much of the development of the water supply system was many decades ahead of its time and helped buffer the city of Melbourne from major diseases, droughts and water shortages. The authors present a chronology of the evolution of the catchment and water supply system pre-1900 to today. They discuss major developments, policies, and construction and management activities. Each chapter is illustrated with historical black and white images as well as newly taken photos that contrast present scenes with those from the past. Chapters also include many fascinating stories of life within the water catchments and working for the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works. Finally, the book includes many extraordinary insights into current and future issues with Melbourne’s water supply, including issues associated with the highly controversial North-South Melbourne’s Pipeline and the desalination plant. Water Catchments ABOUT THE AUTHORS James I. Viggers, Haylee J. Weaver and David B. Lindenmayer and David I.James Viggers, Weaver Haylee J. Jim Viggers, a civil engineer with the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, worked in PERSPECTIVES ON A WORLD-CLASS WATER SUPPLY Melbourne’s water catchments for 25 years and has researched the history of these areas for 50 years. He was responsible for the management of the catchments and the harvest, storage and distribution of water to Melbourne. Haylee Weaver is a parasitologist and has written extensively on the biology and ecology of parasites of Australian rodents. Haylee grew up in Melbourne and has an interest in its history. David Lindenmayer is an ecologist who has worked in the wet forests of Victoria for three decades. Part of his long-term work has entailed extensive field empirical projects in the Maroondah, Watts Creek, Armstrong Creek,U pper Yarra, O’Shannassy and Thomson catchments. James I. Viggers, Haylee J. Weaver and David B. Lindenmayer Melb_Water_Catchments_Cover_FA.indd 1 21/08/13 9:57 AM Melbourne’s Water Catchments PERSPECTIVES ON A WORLD-CLASS WATER SUppLY James I. Viggers, Haylee J. Weaver and David B. Lindenmayer Dedication This book is dedicated to my wife Diana Viggers for her unfailing support over many decades. Melbourne’s Water Catchments PERSPECTIVES ON A WORLD-CLASS WATER SUppLY James I. Viggers, Haylee J. Weaver and David B. Lindenmayer © James Viggers, Haylee Weaver and David CSIRO PUBLISHING publishes and distributes Lindenmayer 2013 scientific, technical and health science books, magazines and journals from Australia to a All rights reserved. Except under the conditions worldwide audience and conducts these activities described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and autonomously from the research activities of the subsequent amendments, no part of this publication Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or Organisation (CSIRO). The views expressed in this transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, publication are those of the author(s) and do not mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or necessarily represent those of, and should not be otherwise, without the prior permission of the attributed to, the publisher or CSIRO. The copyright copyright owner. Contact CSIRO PUBLISHING for owner shall not be liable for technical or other errors all permission requests. or omissions contained herein. The reader/user National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in- accepts all risks and responsibility for losses, Publication entry damages, costs and other consequences resulting Viggers, James I., author. directly or indirectly from using this information. Melbourne’s water catchments : perspectives on a world-class water supply / By James I Viggers, Original print edition: Haylee J Weaver and David B Lindenmayer. The paper this book is printed on is in accordance 9781486300068 (paperback) with the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council®. The 9781486300075 (epdf) FSC® promotes environmentally responsible, socially 9781486300082 (epub) beneficial and economically viable management of Includes bibliographical references and index. the world’s forests. Watershed management – Victoria – Melbourne. Watershed management – Victoria – Melbourne – History Water quality management – Victoria – Melbourne. Melbourne (Vic.) – Water supply. Weaver, Haylee J., author. Lindenmayer, David, author. 333.910099451 Published by CSIRO PUBLISHING 150 Oxford Street (PO Box 1139) Collingwood VIC 3066 Australia Telephone: +61 3 9662 7666 Local call: 1300 788 000 (Australia only) Fax: +61 3 9662 7555 Email: [email protected] Website: www.publish.csiro.au Front cover: (top) Armstrongs Creek (D. Blair); (bottom) Network of water supply reservoirs for Melbourne (C. Hilliker) Set in 12/14 Minion Edited by Adrienne de Kretser, Righting Writing Cover design by Andrew Weatherill Text design by James Kelly Typeset by Thomson Digital Index by Indexicana Printed in China by 1010 Printing International Ltd Contents Preface vii Acknowledgements ix Glossary x Conversion table xi Part 1 Early history: pre-1900 to 1960 1 Chapter 1 Pre-1900 3 Water for a new settlement 3 Blackburn’s water supply ideas 4 The Yan Yean scheme 7 Challenges to maintaining adequate water supply 14 Diversion of the Watts River and construction of the Maroondah Aqueduct 18 Continued growth of Melbourne 20 Links between water quality, human activity and disease 22 The Royal Commission into the Sanitary Condition of Melbourne 23 Chapter 2 1901 to 1939 27 ‘Enemies of water supply’: drought and rapid population growth 27 The Acheron option 28 New water supplies: the O’Shannassy River and augmentation of the Maroondah system 29 New water supplies: the O’Shannassy River 31 1920s: further expansion of water infrastructure 33 Ritchie’s ideas for Melbourne’s water and securing of supply options 42 Commencement of the Upper Yarra scheme 44 Bushfires: 1939 Black Friday fires 45 Chapter 3 1940 to 1960 47 Aftermath of the 1939 bushfires 47 Integrity of the water supply: protection from disease 51 Expansion of the Upper Yarra scheme: the reservoir 52 vi Melbourne’s Water Catchments Part 2 1961 to 2012: a water man’s perspective 61 Chapter 4 1961 to 1984 63 1962: ‘The future water supply’ report 63 The 1967–68 drought 67 Additional infrastructure and water supply options 67 New water supply infrastructure for Melbourne 69 Commencement of the Thomson River scheme 74 Fluoridation of Melbourne’s water 78 Sugarloaf Reservoir and Winneke Treatment Plant: construction and controversy 79 Additional options to secure Melbourne’s water supply 84 Bushfires in the catchments: the Ash Wednesday fires of February 1983 86 Chapter 5 1985 to 2012 89 Water supply strategies: 1986 and 1991 89 The water catchment forests 93 The end of the MMBW 98 Prolonged drought: 1997–2009 101 The North-South Pipeline 103 Desalination plant 104 Utilising the new infrastructure: the North-South Pipeline v. the desalination plant 106 Were there potential alternatives to the North-South Pipeline and the desalination plant? 109 Chapter 6 The future 111 Water availability and distribution 111 Demand for water 112 Water supply strategies and options: the need for advance planning 112 Future threats to water supply 113 Logging and other forest values 116 Environmental impacts 117 The development of the water supply system 118 References 121 Index 127 Preface The city of Melbourne – Australia’s second-largest city – has some of the best-quality drinking water in the world, but few Melburnians have any idea where their water comes from or how the water supply and sewerage system was developed. The world-class system that services Melbourne did not come about by good luck and chance. Rather, it is the product of careful planning, outstanding engineering and construction, and extraordinarily far-sighted policies which were decades, if not centuries, ahead of their time, such as the closure of catchments to most human activities. This book documents the history of the development of the water supply for the City of Melbourne. The first three chapters, which comprise Part 1, offer a brief historical account from the arrival of the first settlers to the early construction of large dams, and sketch the problems arising from disease, pollution, repeated droughts and bushfires. These chapters also tell of the lives of the visionary engineers and planners who tackled these issues to secure the city’s water supply through the design and construction of numerous weirs, dams and extensive networks of pipelines and aqueducts. They also encompass the lives of the more humble but nevertheless impor- tant people who were involved in maintaining the system, such as those who manned fire towers and serviced aqueducts. The second part of the book (Chapters 4–6) are a ‘water man’s’ perspec- tive on the continued expansion and further development of Melbourne’s water supply from the 1960s until the present day. Jim Viggers (Figure A) was an Operations and Maintenance Engineer and a Senior Executive for Melbourne’s water supply for 20 years, and an employee of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works for over 35 years. This book provides a series of unique and fascinating insights into a critical part of Australia’s natural resource management infrastructure. viii Melbourne’s Water Catchments Figure A: Jim Viggers (image: Shire of Healesville). The final chapter offers perspectives on the many vexed issues surround- ing the construction of the controversial North-South Pipeline and the desalination plant, including the long-term assessments made of these projects by water authorities many years before their commencement. This chapter also considers how and why past approaches to water infrastructure management differ from current practices. Our hope is that this book will provide a new set of insights on why and how Melbourne established such a world-class water supply.