Melbourne
Water access and use

This note provides information about the water access rights granted by jurisdictions to the users of the region's water resources and the associated allocation announcements, diversions, adjustments and forfeitures.

The 2012 Account acknowledges the varying jurisdictional legislative water resource management frameworks related to Australian rights to water that support water resource management in Australia. These water resource management frameworks vary greatly between jurisdictions, sometimes making comparisons difficult. To facilitate meaningful comparisons between the water accounting reports included in the 2012 Account, the Bureau of Meteorology has developed and applied an accounting concept to classify and report water entitlements within a water asset/water liability framework.

According to that framework, water rights for the Melbourne region for the 2011–12 year have been classified as shown in Table 1 and Table 2.

Table 1 summarises the surface water rights for the Melbourne region, including surface water allocations, abstractions, forfeitures and adjustments during the 2011–12 year.

Table 1  Summarised information on surface water rights, allocations, abstractions, adjustments and forfeitures for the Melbourne region during the 2011–12 year

Water rights (at 30 June 2012)		Water allocation (2011–12)		Water abstraction/use (2011–12)		Forfeiture, adjustment (2011–12)
Account line item	Volume (ML)	Account line item	Volume (ML)	Account line item	Volume (ML)	Account line item	Volume (ML)
32.1 Other statutory surface water rights	–	n/a	n/a	17.6	–	n/a	n/a
32.2 Surface water access entitlement for non–allocated diversion	69,152	n/a	n/a	17.7	17,571	n/a	n/a
32.3 Surface water access entitlement for allocated diversions	237,800	9.15	259,701	9.11	2,192	17.17	20,791
	22,518	21.1	20,761	17.11	10,125	13.1	10,636
	466,944	21.2	425,527	17.12	374,198	13.2	45,156
	4,825	21.4	3,040	17.14	3,040	13.4	0
Total	801,239		709,029		407,126		76,583

  – = no data available

Note: water allocations (line item 21.2), abstraction/use (line item 17.12) and forfeiture, adjustment (line item 13.2) shown in italics in Table 1 relate to a surface water entitlement held by the urban water system. These line items do not appear in the water accounting statements because they are transactions that occurred within the region. These transactions did not impact the region's total water assets and water liabilities.

More information about the items presented in Table 1 is provided in the linked line item notes.

Tables 2 summarises the groundwater rights for the Melbourne region, including groundwater allocations, abstractions, adjustments and forfeitures during the 2011–12 year.

Table 2  Summarised information on groundwater rights, allocations, abstractions, adjustments and forfeitures during the 2011–12 year

Water rights (at 30 June 2012)		Water allocation (2011–12)		Water abstraction/use (2011–12)		Forfeiture, adjustment (2011–12)
Account line item	Volume (ML)	Account line item	Volume (ML)	Account line item	Volume (ML)	Account line item	Volume (ML)
33.1 Other statutory groundwater rights	–	n/a	n/a	18.7	–	n/a	n/a
33.2 Groundwater access entitlement for non–allocated extractions	–	n/a	n/a	18.8	–	n/a	n/a
32.3 Surface water access entitlement for allocated diversions	41,526	22.1	41,526	18.11	13,171	14.1	28,355
	412	22.2	412	18.12	0	14.2	412
Total	41,938		41,938		13,171		28,767

– = no data available

More information about the items presented in Table 2 is provided in the linked line item notes.

For groundwater, the total water allocation announcement is assumed to equal to 100% of the annual entitlement.

During the 2011–12 year, bans applied to diversions from 11 unregulated streams as well as to irrigation and regulated diversions from some streams (Table 3).

Table 3  Restrictions on waterways in the Melbourne region during the 2011–12 year

Waterway

2011

2012

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Darebin Creek

IB

Maribyrnong River

IB*

IB*

IB*

IB &IB*

IB &IB*

IB &IB*

IB*

IB*

IB*

IB*

Dixons Creek

IB

IB

IB

IB

IB

IB

IB

Pauls Creek

IB

IB

IB

IB

IB

IB

IB

Steels Creek

IB

IB

IB

IB

IB

IB

IB

Diamond Creek

IB

IB

IB

Olinda Creek

IB

Stringybark Creek (lower)

IB

IB

Yarra River (upper)

R

R

Yarra River (lower)

R

R

R

Mullum Mullum Creek

IB

R = restriction = pumping times or days restricted, in accordance with drought response plan 
IB = irrigation ban 
IB* = irrigation ban (winter fill) 
Note: the restrictions expressed in the above table relate to the restrictions in place on the final day of the month under consideration (and do not necessarily reflect the restrictions in place over the entire month). Only those waterways where restrictions were in place during the 2011–12 year are listed in the table above.

For more information on the irrigation restrictions, please refer to the Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries Monthly Water Reports.

In the Melbourne region, trade of water entitlements is allowed for take and use licences and water shares.

Trade and temporary trade (lease) of take and use licences is only allowed within management units; allocation trade does not occur. Accordingly, surface water trade reported for the Melbourne region during the 2011–12 year includes trade and temporary trade of take and use licences within unregulated waterways. Similarly, groundwater trade reported for the Melbourne region during the 2011–12 year includes trade and temporary trade of take and use licences within groundwater management units.

Under the conditions specified by the Victorian Trading Rules for Declared Water Systems, trading of water allocations is permitted in special circumstances only between the Thomson/Macalister system (outside the Melbourne region) to the Werribee system (within the Melbourne region); however, trading of water shares is not permitted between these two systems. Trading of water allocations and water shares between water systems in the Melbourne region and water systems outside of the Melbourne region did not occur during the 2011–11 year.

All figures and information were sourced from the Victorian Annual Water Trading Report 2011/12.

The following table present a summary of surface water and groundwater trade in regulated (water shares) and unregulated (take and use licences) systems in the Melbourne region during the 2011–12 year.

Table 4  Summary of surface water and groundwater entitlement trade and lease in the Melbourne region during the 2011–12 year

Line item	Volume (ML)	No. of trades
Surface water
35.1 Trade of surface water entitlement within region	1,944	105
36.1 Lease of surface water entitlement within region	500	18
37.1 Surface water allocation trade within region	1,735	n/a
Surface water subtotal	4,179	123
Groundwater
38.1 Trade of groundwater entitlement within region	701	29
39.1 Lease of groundwater entitlement within region	748	17
Groundwater subtotal	1,449	46
Total	5,628	169

Surface water and groundwater resources within the Melbourne region are used for urban water supply, irrigation scheme supply, as well as private water supply for purposes such as agriculture and industry. For a summary of the water volumes allocated for various economic purposes within the region refer to line items 32.2, 32.3 and 33.3.

Information on legislative, administrative and governing arrangements of environmental water in the region is available in the 'Environmental water management' section of the 'Contextual information'.

Water for environmental benefit in the Melbourne region is provided according to three different environmental water management scenarios:

• held environmental water
• planned, partly regulated surface water
• planned, unregulated surface water. 

For each type of environmental water management scenario, the information, if available, is structured as follows:

• Environmental water determinations: the environmental objectives that define specific water levels and flow criteria at key representative sites that must be met.
• Environmental water commitments: the instruments in place to achieve the environmental water determination, e.g. environmental water storage release rules, water access rules to limit abstractions, rules on diversion to wetlands and annual environmental watering plans.
• Environmental water outcomes: the water levels and flow conditions that occurred during the year and the extent of the compliance with respect to the criteria set in the environmental water commitments.

Environmental water determination

During the 2011–12 year three environmental water entitlements, held by the Victorian Environmental Water Holder (VEWH), applied to catchments within the Melbourne region:

• Tarago and Bunyip rivers Environmental Entitlement 2009
• Consolidated Yarra Environmental Entitlement 2006
• Werribee River Environmental Entitlement 2011.

Each environmental water entitlements prescribes that an environmental flow regime must be adopted that describes the characteristics of recommended environmental flows for river reaches within the basin including their volume, timing, duration and rate of change. These details can be found in Schedule 1 of each entitlement.

Environmental water commitment

The VEWH is entitled to:

• 3,000 ML of storage capacity in the Tarago Reservoir under the Tarago and Bunyip Rivers Environmental Entitlement 2009
• 17,000 ML of storage capacity in the Melbourne headworks system reservoirs not being used by the authorities under the Consolidated Yarra Environmental Entitlement 2006
• A 10% share of inflows into Lake Merrimu under the Werribee River Environmental Entitlement.
  

Environmental water outcome

The VEWH is required to report the annual volume of water released for the environment, the extent to which environmental flows have met the recommended environmental flow regime, and non-compliance with conditions of the entitlement.

• In the Yarra River, managed environmental releases (4,771 ML) and natural flows resulted in partial or full achievement of all priority watering actions.
• In the Tarago and Werribee rivers natural flows resulted in partial or full achievement of all priority watering actions, thus requiring no active environmental water releases.

This information is reported in the VEWH Annual report on environmental watering.

Environmental water determination and commitments

Bulk entitlements that are categorised as planned partly regulated surface water are those where there is the provision to make operational releases from storages to provide minimum passing flows.

In the Melbourne region this includes the following bulk entitlements:

• Southern Rural Water's bulk entitlement to the Maribyrnong
• Western Water's bulk entitlement to the Maribyrnong
• Melbourne Water's bulk entitlement to the Maribyrnong
• The urban retail water authorities (City West Water, South East Water and Yarra Valley Water) bulk entitlement to the Bunyip and Tarago rivers.

Bulk entitlements outline the rules that must be followed when taking or abstracting water, including minimum passing flows that must be maintained at certain compliance points. In these entitlements, water may be released from storage to maintain minimum flows. 

Refer to the Victorian Water Register for information on specific release and passing flow requirements for each of these entitlements.

Environmental water outcomes

The bulk entitlement holder or responsible authority must submit, to the Minister for Water, a report detailing their compliance with the conditions of the entitlement (in particular the passing flows) during the year. This information is also typically contained in the responsible authority's annual report as a measure of compliance with all provisions of the bulk entitlement.

In the 2011–12 year only Southern Rural Water reported a minor breach of its passing flow requirements for its bulk entitlement to the Maribyrnong River.

Environmental water determination and commitments

Bulk entitlements that are categorised as planned unregulated surface water are those where abstraction is only permitted when minimum passing flow conditions are met.

In the Melbourne region this includes:

• Southern Rural Water's bulk entitlement to the Werribee system for irrigation
• The urban retail water authorities (City West Water, South East Water and Yarra Valley Water) bulk entitlement to the Yarra River
• Western Water's bulk entitlements to various sources in the Maribyrnong catchment (Gisborne – Baringo Creek, Lancefield, Macedon and Mount Macedon, Riddells Creek and Romsey) and to the Werribee system. 

Bulk entitlements outline the rules that must be followed when abstracting water, including minimum passing flows that must be maintained at certain compliance points. For these entitlements water may not be abstracted, or abstracted at a reduced rate where minimum passing flows are not maintained. In addition, environmental flow requirements for the bulk entitlements to water from the Yarra River are detailed in the State Environment Protection Policy.

Environmental water outcomes

The bulk entitlement holder or responsible authority must submit, to the Minister for Water, a report detailing their compliance with the conditions of the entitlement (in particular the passing flows) during the year. This information is also typically contained in the responsible authority's annual report as a measure of compliance with all provisions of the bulk entitlement.

In the 2011–12 year, non-compliance was not reported for any of the above-mentioned bulk entitlements.

Environmental water determination and commitment

Stream flow management plans (SFMP) prescribe how water will be shared between users and the environment in an equitable manner to ensure the long-term sustainability of the resource. Broadly, the objectives of SFMPs are to determine water users' reasonable access to water through a permissible annual volume (PAV), while preserving environmental flows and protecting environmental values. Specific objectives are detailed in Schedule two of each of the SFMPs.

Stream flow management plans currently apply to the following six water supply protection areas within the Yarra River catchment and are managed by Melbourne Water:

• Diamond Creek Stream Flow Management Plan
• Hoddles Creek Stream Flow Management Plan
• Olinda Creek Stream Flow Management Plan
• Plenty River Stream Flow Management Plan
• Steels, Pauls and Dixons Creeks Stream Flow Management Plan
• Stringybark Creek Stream Flow Management Plan.

Stream flow management plans outline the rules that licence holders must follow when abstracting water, including minimum passing flows that must be maintained to meet environmental flow targets.

Environmental water outcomes

In accordance with section 32C of the Water Act 1989 (Victoria), Melbourne Water (responsible for administering and enforcing the SFMP) must submit to the Minister for Water a report detailing its compliance with the SFMP during the 2011–12 year.

Compliance with maintaining environmental flows was reported for all SFMPs in the 2011–12 year.

For more information, these reports can be found on the Melbourne Water website.