The Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (M.M.B.W.) was a public utility board in Melbourne, Australia set up to provide water supply, sewerage and sewage treatment functions for the city. Other responsibilities included town planning, management of parkland and other open space, maintenance of metropolitan highways and bridges, foreshore protection and improvements, and monitoring waste discharges. In 1992 it was rebranded as Melbourne Water.
In 1891, Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works became responsible for Melbourne's water supply system. In 1991, it was merged with a number of smaller urban water authorities to form Melbourne Water.[1]
In 1949 the M.M.B.W. was authorised to prepare a comprehensive plan for Melbourne and the metropolitan area through an amendment to the 1944 Town and Country Planning Act, in 1954 the board was made the chief planning authority for metropolitan Melbourne, until the they were passed to the Ministry for Planning and Environment in 1985.[2]
The responsibility for the construction and maintenance of metropolitan highways and bridges was vested in the Board by an amending Act in 1956, this causing a great deal of conflict with the Country Roads Board, until all road responsibilities were passed to the CRB in 1974.[3]