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Melbourne Water Annual Report 2017-18 Enhancing Life and Liveability

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Melbourne Water Annual Report 2017-18 Enhancing Life and Liveability Melbourne Water Annual Report 2017-18 Enhancing Life and Liveability Melbourne Water makes a vital contribution to the famous Melbourne lifestyle by underpinning human health, enhancing community wellbeing, supporting economic growth and balancing the natural and urban environment. We achieve this through the supply of affordable, high-quality water, reliable sewerage services and integrated drainage systems, building flood resilience, and protecting and enhancing our waterways and land. Guided by our vision to enhance life and liveability through our three pillars of Healthy People, Healthy Places, and a Healthy Environment, we help make Melbourne a fantastic place to live now and into the future. We are owned by the Victorian Government and work hard to deliver sustainable public health, and financial and environmental solutions. Melbourne Water does not work alone. We collaborate with a wide range of partners that include retail water companies, local councils, developers, contractors, government agencies and the community to deliver all that we do. With more than 125 years of experience servicing Greater Melbourne, we focus on securing a sustainable and healthy community for future generations. About this report Aboriginal Acknowledgement The Melbourne Water Annual Report 2017-18 describes Melbourne Water respectfully acknowledges Aboriginal activities undertaken between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2018 people as Australia’s First Peoples and the local Traditional to meet our customer needs, regulatory obligations and Owners as the original custodians of the land and water on contribute towards achieving our vision of Enhancing Life and which we rely and operate. We pay our deepest respects to Liveability. their Elders past, present and future. Melbourne Water is a Victorian Government-owned We acknowledge the continued cultural, social and spiritual corporation. connections Aboriginal people have with the lands and waters, and recognise and value that the Traditional Owner As part of our commitment to sustainability, we will print a groups have cared for and protected them for thousands of limited number of copies of this report. An online version and generations. accessible text format of this report are available at www.melbournewater.com.au In the spirit of reconciliation, we remain committed to working in partnership with local Traditional Owners to If you would like a copy of this report in a different accessible ensure their ongoing contribution to the future of the water format, please contact Melbourne Water on 131 722 (within management landscape, while maintaining their cultural and Victoria) or (03) 9679 7100 (outside Victoria), or email spiritual connections. [email protected] Cover photo (Platypus): Doug Gimesy Contents The Year in Review 2 Our Strategic Direction 4 Building a Sustainable Community 6 Delivering Valued Services 8 Drinking Water Supply 10 Sewage and Recycled Water 17 Waterways and Drainage 22 Adding Value to Services: Our Approach 32 Creating More Liveable Places 34 Building More Resilient Cities and Towns Through Integrated Water Management 36 Environmental Stewardship 38 Increasing Value: Improving Our Business 43 Our Customers and the Community 44 Safe and Inspired People 51 Continuous Improvement 57 Business Sustainability 61 Directors’ Report 72 Financial Report 75 Performance Report 138 Appendices 145 2017-18 Melbourne Water Annual Report | 1 With an expected population of eight million by 2051, we The Year in Review recognise the critical value that our essential infrastructure delivers to the liveability of our region. In 2017-18 we Report from the Chair and Managing invested $533.47 million in capital works, upgrading existing infrastructure in our water, sewerage and drainage networks Director to support Melbourne’s growing population. Melbourne is a vibrant, liveable and sustainable city. Cities of the future need to become more integrated in their Melbourne Water draws on its 125 years of servicing the planning and delivery, and we have collaborated with our people of Melbourne, embracing the challenges our region community and stakeholders to revitalise open spaces to faces to create opportunities as we plan for a bright future. support recreation and improve access to cooler, greener We continue to work together with our partners to ensure spaces. the security of supply of our essential services to our customers and community, helping to make Melbourne a Our Reimagine Your Creek program, delivered in partnership great place to live now and into the future. with councils, is restoring previously engineered stormwater channels to more natural systems, and enables communities Guided by our vision of creating healthy people, healthy to connect with their local waterways. We work with State places, and a healthy environment to enhance life and and local government and planning authorities to support liveability, we delivered a range of significant initiatives integrated water management design in significant urban to better support a more vibrant, liveable and sustainable renewal projects to improve flood management, open region in 2017-18. space, improved water quality and liveability. In 2017-18 this included Australia’s largest urban renewal development in Through the services we provide, Melbourne Water is Fishermans Bend, which will house approximately 80,000 in a strong position to contribute to the global effort residents by 2050. for sustainable development. As signatories to the United Nations Global Compact, we use the Sustainable This year we transformed our digital offering to provide more Development Goals to guide us in working towards a relevant, personal information to the community, including sustainable future, both within the Melbourne region and, a refreshed website, increased online engagement via Your through our research and community partnerships, the Say and a new mobile application to support more than broader community. 1500 birdwatchers at the Western Treatment Plant. Our Community Online Maps web application is delivering more We are committed to managing our environmental impact, immediate access to information regarding Melbourne Water and have pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions by asset activities within local communities. 2030. We are well underway and in 2017-18 we continued to deliver innovation in resource recovery and drive We have implemented a number of new digital technologies, improvements in renewable energy production. This included tools and processes to enhance asset management, new biogas and solar initiatives, and a transition to a zero make operations safer and more efficient, and increase emission vehicle fleet to reduce our carbon footprint and our customer service. Our efforts were recognised with deliver a healthy environment for future generations. a Worksafe Award and a nomination as a finalist in the national Digital Utility Awards in 2018. Our Melbourne Water System Strategy and Flood Management Strategy form part of our long-term direction- We continue to transform the way we engage with our setting to identify opportunities to improve water security customers and the community to create more meaningful and respond to future growth and climate change. We ways for people to influence – and be involved in – the expanded our planning further in 2017-18 through a decisions we make. The engagement principles from our refreshed 10-year Healthy Waterways Strategy, and a 50- Next Generation Engagement program have supported year framework for sustainable waste management in the the development of key strategies and plans, including a Melbourne Sewerage Strategy. Together with the 50-year collaborative governance model with multiple stakeholders community vision for the Yarra River, as part of the Yarra to transform Moonee Ponds Creek. Strategic Plan, this critical foresight and long-term direction- setting for our region demonstrates the expertise we provide Through collaboration, consultation and engagement we when collaborating with our community, customers and provided $8.3 million in grants to local government and stakeholders. waterways stakeholders to improve waterway health. As we implement the Flood Management Strategy, we are working with local councils and other partners to better understand flood risks through joint mapping, new risk assessment and prioritisation tools, and enhanced technology to support communication during flooding events. 2 | 2017-18 Melbourne Water Annual Report Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inclusion has We certify that the Melbourne Water Corporation has strengthened with increased consultation in water planning complied with the applicable Standing Directions of the and relationship building. This has helped facilitate Minister for Finance under the Financial Management Wurundjeri involvement in key water planning strategies Act 1994 and Instructions. We are pleased to present the and the Yarra Strategic Plan to better protect Aboriginal Melbourne Water Annual Report 2017-18. water values. We have built on actions implemented as part of our Reconciliation Action Plan 2016-2017 ensuring the contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are an integral part of our work. Melbourne Water has continued to embrace new ways of working in 2017-18, setting a generative safety culture standard at organisational and team levels. We believe that safety is a ‘whole of life’ experience, and have implemented programs that assist our people in being safer at home, on
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