Melbourne Water

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Melbourne Water is the organisation that controls much of the water system in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia including the city's reservoirs, sewerage and drainage system. Melbourne Water is wholly owned by the Victorian state Government. Major Retail customers of Melbourne Water are City West Water, South East Water and Yarra Valley Water.^[1]

Melbourne Water was formed by the merger of Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works and a number of smaller urban water authorities in 1991.

1 Melbourne's water storages
2 Water Supply Catchments
- 2.1 Overview
- 2.2 Clearfell logging in catchment areas
3 See also
4 External link
5 References

[edit] Melbourne's water storages

Silvan Reservoir

Melbourne Water manages the nine Melbourne reservoirs outlined in the table below. Total storage capacity is 1,773,000 megalitires.^[2]

Melbourne Reservoirs
Reservoir	Capacity (ML)	Year Completed
Thomson	&&&&&&&&&1068000.01,068,000	1983
Cardinia	&&&&&&&&&&287000.0287,000	1973
Upper Yarra	&&&&&&&&&&200000.0200,000	1957
Sugarloaf	&&&&&&&&&&&96000.096,000	1981
Silvan	&&&&&&&&&&&40000.040,000	1932
Yan Yean	&&&&&&&&&&&30000.030,000	1857
Greenvale	&&&&&&&&&&&27000.027,000	1971
Maroondah	&&&&&&&&&&&22000.022,000	1927
O'Shannassy	&&&&&&&&&&&&3000.03,000	1928

[edit] Water Supply Catchments

[edit] Overview

90% of Melbourne's water is sourced from uninhabited forests in the Yarra Ranges.In excess of 157 thousand hectares is reserved for water catchment. These forests primarily consist of Mountain Ash. Catchment areas have been closed to the public for over 100 years.^[3]

[edit] Clearfell logging in catchment areas

Clearfell logging is permitted in these catchment areas which in turn is reducing Melbourne's water supply.^[4]^[5] It is estimated that 30 thousand megalitires of water could be saved per annum by phasing out logging. This represents 6% of Melbourne's annual usage.^[6]