Melbourne Water’s Submission
Melbourne’s Water Future Green Paper
Melbourne is recognised as one of the world’s most liveable cities. While
‘liveability’ is a product of multiple factors – including safety, transport,
healthcare, urban design, culture, recreation and access to nature to name a
few – water is unique in that it plays a role in many of these factors.
Integrated water cycle management will play a key role in keeping Melbourne
one of the world’s most liveable cities as we respond to the challenges of a
growing population and a variable climate.
Waterways, gardens, parks and playing fields contribute to the health and
wellbeing of society and provide vital breathing and cooling capacity for the
city. Healthy water-dependent systems contribute to healthy ecosystems and
make Melbourne an attractive place to live. Our high quality potable water
derived mainly from protected catchments requires minimal treatment and
helps preserve public health. Safe, secure and affordable water and waste
water services are critical for a prosperous city. Water in its many forms is
essential for our wellbeing and is an important enabler of liveability.
Melbourne Water supports an integrated water cycle
management approach
Melbourne Water is committed to ‘enhancing life and liveability’, which is our vision for
the future. Day to day we manage Melbourne’s water supply catchments, treat and
supply drinking and recycled water, remove and treat most of Melbourne’s sewage
and manage waterways and major drainage systems in the Port Phillip and
Westernport region.
Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
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Enhancing Life and Liveability
Water is central to living. It sustains the communities we live in, the natural
environment we value and the economy we depend on.
We will improve the quality of life and prosperity of the region by providing safe,
secure and reliable water services, desirable urban spaces and thriving natural
environments supported by healthy waterways and bays.
Every day, we will work with others to develop shared solutions to manage rainwater,
seawater, stormwater and treated sewage as one integrated system. This approach
will deliver the best economic, social and environmental outcomes for all, now and in
the future.
Melbourne Water’s Strategic Direction (2012)
Melbourne Water welcomes Melbourne’s Water Future and the focus it brings to
integrated water cycle management. This new policy direction provides an excellent
opportunity to embrace integrated water cycle management in a consistent and
continuous manner, providing a driving force for transformational change in water
planning and management.
Water is unique in the diversity of ways it contributes to the liveability of our city. The
adoption of integrated water cycle management will play a key role in keeping
Melbourne one of the world’s most liveable cities. It will do this by providing:

more valued services where customer and community needs are understood
and met through better engagement and more innovative use of our water
resources (including stormwater and recycled water), assets and shared
expertise

more resilient and flexible services that are able to respond to both known
(including climate variability and population growth) and unknown challenges
in a way that enhances the wellbeing of the community and the health of the
environment

more holistic services that balance multiple objectives at the local, regional and
citywide scales.
Melbourne Water suggests that, an adaptive and flexible approach is adopted for the
implementation of Melbourne’s Water Future generally to encourage ongoing success
in the delivery of the objectives.
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Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
Melbourne Water is in a unique position to support
implementation
Melbourne Water is keen to work with the Office of Living Victoria and the wider water
industry to implement an innovative, adaptable, considered and collaborative work
program to develop Melbourne’s water future. Melbourne Water believes we are in a
position to support a transition to integrated water cycle management given our
current activities, our experience, and of course our commitment to our vision– to
enhance life and liveability.
Melbourne Water works across many aspects of the water cycle and has a strong
interest in integrated solutions. Melbourne Water has established relationships across
the industry and has led the way in many aspects of integrated water cycle
management in Victoria. Melbourne Water’s current systems viewpoint of water
management in Melbourne and across the region coupled with the learnings we can
share from our experience of implementing a suite of activities put us in a unique
position to support implementation of many of Melbourne’s Water Future’s proposed
initiatives. Melbourne Water has had successes influencing the evolution and
acceptance of integrated water cycle management. Recent examples include:

Co-authored the Water Sensitive Urban Design Guidelines (2005)

Worked with metropolitan retail water companies to develop the Metropolitan
Sewerage Strategy, which re-focused sewerage management for Melbourne on
sewage as a resource rather than waste (2008)
Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
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
Contributed to the Central Region Sustainable Water Strategy including its
recognition of the environment as a user and stormwater and recycled water as
potential resources (2010)

Designed and led the International Water Association Cities of Future Program
(2010)

Worked with the metropolitan retail water companies on the Water Supply
Demand Strategy for the Melbourne region (2012)

Essential participant of the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive
Cities (from 2012)

Co-funded the Little Stringybark Creek catchment disconnection program
(2006-2013) and led the development of an Environmental Significance
Overlay for the area (2013)
So far, Melbourne Water has supported integrated water cycle management in
Melbourne and the region in a variety of ways. Some of our work is highlighted in the
case studies in this document. In addition to working with the Office of Living Victoria
and our partners on implementation of Melbourne’s Water Future, Melbourne Water
will continue to contribute to integrated water cycle management and through it the
liveability of our city over the next few years in the following ways:




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Continue to drive strategy, policy and regulation through
o
Western, Northern, and Inner regional plans
o
Metropolitan Planning Strategy
o
Water Law Review
Develop icon liveability projects with Melbourne Water’s assets
o
Western Treatment Plant
o
Main Outfall Sewer
Work with our key partners to deliver projects such as
o
Casey Clyde and Botanic Ridge urban developments
o
Decentralised treatment at Dobson’s Creek
o
Stormwater harvesting at Toolern Creek and Coburg
o
Realising broader benefits from the Werribee Irrigation District
Continue to embed integrated water cycle management into our business.
Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
Focus areas Melbourne Water want to work with
industry on
Achieving transformational change will require action on many fronts. Melbourne
Water proposes to address the diverse initiatives included in Melbourne’s Water Future
under the following themes:

development of a robust suite of strategies and plans that provide a road map
for change and clear measures of success with tools to support consistent
performance

clear incentives for sound investment and efficient service delivery

engaging widely with the community and thinking beyond the water cycle

international leadership with a commitment to openness, innovation and
learning.
A robust suite of strategies and plans
Planning Framework and Regional Plans
Melbourne Water supports the commitment to planning across multiple scales – at
metropolitan, regional and local level. Melbourne Water also supports an approach
where: (1) the planning framework proposed in Melbourne’s Water Future provides
the context, objectives and high level measures of success and (2) the regional plans
provide the mix of initiatives, local outcomes and more detailed measures of success
and that maximise the value created for each region, cognisant of the up- and downstream implications.
The regional plans will provide opportunities for:

in-depth engagement and analysis of local issues and opportunities and their
implications for citywide planning

testing and implementing the investment framework being developed by the
Office of Living Victoria

working across sectoral and organisational boundaries

innovative use of existing assets and resources.
Melbourne Water believes that developing the Planning Framework and the regional
plans in parallel is important to timely action through an iterative action learning
approach.
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Main Outfall Sewer: a new opportunity for an old asset
The Main Outfall Sewer (MOS) was originally constructed in 1893 and then
decommissioned a hundred years later following the construction of the Western
Trunk Sewer. It runs from Brooklyn to Werribee and comprises sections of open
concrete lined channel and covered sections of brick lined concrete constructed
through relatively flat terrain. It is protected under the Heritage Act 1995.
The MOS is in a poor condition for most of its length. It is costly to maintain for no
current benefit to the community and impacts the surrounding land. However, based
on the information collected to date, the MOS structure appears to have many
potential uses and the reserve could become an important multiple use asset to
improve the liveability of the western region of Melbourne. Melbourne Water is
embarking on a project to assess the feasibility of revitalising MOS potentially
providing for stormwater reuse, environmental flows and improved local amenity and
recreational opportunities.
The plan for the western region identified in Melbourne’s Water Future provides an
excellent vehicle for considering this and other innovative local opportunities.
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Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
Melbourne Water welcomes and strongly supports the proposals in Melbourne’s Water
Future in relation to planning for new suburbs and the urban growth of Melbourne,
and in particular the proposals to embed whole-of-water-cycle management into
Precinct Structure Plans. Melbourne Water looks forward to working with the Office of
Living Victoria, Growth Areas Authority and other stakeholders in establishing
improved processes that allow the early identification of integrated water cycle
management options that best suit the circumstances of each growth area and
precinct, and how these can be implemented.
Integration of centralised and decentralised systems
Melbourne Water suggests that a key opportunity provided by the Planning
Framework and regional plans is better integration of the existing centralised system
and decentralised solutions.
Melbourne has developed over many years to be reliant on mainly centralised water
and wastewater infrastructure. This evolution has been occurred based on best
practise at the time. Product delivery has been largely based around the use of gravity
to convey water and wastewater from the water catchments in the North and East of
Melbourne, around the city and to the two major sewage treatment plants, located in
naturally low lying areas at Werribee and Bangholme.
The vision of our early planners to develop centralised systems has served the
community well and has contributed to the current liveability of our city by providing
essential water, sewerage and drainage services to the community. New technology,
changing community expectations and a greater focus on water’s contribution to the
health and amenity of our city as well as future challenges such as climate variability
and population growth create an opportunity and imperative for a different approach.
The water industry needs to better integrate the existing centralised system with
smaller and more local solutions. When done well this can deliver significant benefits
to all water customers and local communities.
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St Albans Main: integration of centralised and decentralised systems
The construction of a water pipeline to service Wyndham, one of the fastest growing
areas in Australia, will cost millions less due to savings identified through a
customerfocused service delivery approach and integrated water cycle management.
Water demand from the City West Water zones of Cowies Hill and West Werribee is
forecast to increase significantly over the next 25 years, requiring construction of a
new main to service growth.
Stage two of the St Albans to Werribee Pipeline project will now cost $12M less
following an analysis of the benefits of integrated water cycle management and the
impacts of changing growth rates and peak demands. The diameter of the new
pipeline will be able to be reduced by City West Water proposing ‘third–pipe’ use of
recycled water for non–drinking demands within households, resulting in reductions in
peak potable water demand. Melbourne Water has worked collaboratively with City
West Water to understand this demand and how it can be met.
This work has highlighted that the use of alternative water sources for non–drinking
water applications in new growth areas, can contribute to network capacity
efficiencies reducing costs and conserving our precious drinking water resources.
Transitioning to a more integrated use of decentralised and centralised assets will
increase the complexity of the system. Key aspects of integrating a decentralised
system with a centralised system include:

A common understanding of community expectations around levels of service
and willingness to pay

Understanding and sharing of cost and risk between centralised and
decentralised assets, their owners and the beneficiaries while ensuring best
outcomes for the community

Developing the capacity (including tools, expertise and organisational
arrangements) to operate and maintain disparate and diverse complex
systems

Reviewing and clarification of the roles, objectives and levels of service for the
various elements of the integrated system.
As the distributed water asset base grows, the industry and our potential partners
(e.g. local councils) will need to develop the skills to operate and maintain these new
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Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
integrated assets. Melbourne Water encourages the Office of Living Victoria to
continue to build the capacity of the industry and councils through programs such as
the highly respected Clearwater program.
Clear incentives for sound investment and efficient service
delivery
Investment
Melbourne Water supports the development of a common approach to investment
evaluation which delivers integrated water cycle management outcomes by balancing
the relevant financial, environmental and social considerations. For successful uptake,
it is important that any investment decision-making tools be developed in conjunction
with industry-wide consensus on the governance arrangements which will underpin
the investment decision-making process.
These governance arrangements should facilitate decision making across all
stakeholders and take into account the relevant costs and benefits, risk allocation and
sharing, cost sharing, as well as regulatory and policy requirements. It will be
important arrangements recognise both the need for broader integrated decision
making, as well as the business case process of individual businesses and
stakeholders. Often integrated water cycle management projects impact the costs and
benefits of stakeholders beyond the water industry (e.g. local councils, health industry
etc.). In this regard, it will be essential that a broad stakeholder group is considered
in the development of these governance arrangements.
Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
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Investment governance
Governance success – willingness to pay for waterways and drainage services
Melbourne Water is committed to understanding customer and community preferences
for areas of investment and the levels of investment undertaken in waterway and
drainage services. While Melbourne Water’s obligations are set out in the Water Act
and Statement of Obligations, they often don’t provide explicit service level
requirements. As such, these service levels need to be agreed with customers and the
community through consultation. Melbourne Water’s waterways and drainage
customer base is nearing two million households and businesses, so it can be difficult
to get a representative understanding of customer preferences for service levels and
what they are willing to pay for each of them.
During the 2013 Water Plan consultation period, Melbourne Water sought feedback
from customers on the proposed price increase for waterways and drainage services.
A survey of customers tested Melbourne Water’s price and service level offering and
helped understand and quantify community support for waterways and drainage
initiatives and charges associated with the 2013 Water Plan. Overall, our customers
found the proposed service offering in Water Plan 3 was very favourable – 82% found
the current plan or a plan with greater ambitions and higher charges ‘acceptable’.
Better understanding customer needs and expectations will enable us to be more
customer focused and responsive in the planning and delivery of our services.
Developing a greater understanding of how the community values environmental
services that Melbourne Water provides will also assist in making investment decisions
for integrated water cycle management projects which have broader environmental
benefits.
Governance challenge – Bolin Bolin Billabong
The proposed Bolin Bolin Billabong Wetland Project was an integrated water cycle
management project on the eastern banks of the Yarra River in Bulleen. The proposed
stormwater harvesting project was led by Manningham City Council and aimed to
deliver multiple benefits to the community in terms of potable water substitution,
environmental water to a remnant wetland, habitat enhancement, greener open
space, and flood mitigation. The proposed project’s stakeholders included Federal
Government, State Government, Local Government, Sporting Associations, Local
Community Groups and private educational institutions. The project was complex in its
nature due to multiple stakeholders operating across multiple land holdings all with
specific regulated boundaries, competing priorities, dispersed knowledge and differing
political agendas.
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Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
The project was to be jointly funded by the Federal Government, Councils,
Melbourne Water, Carey Baptist Grammar School and Parks Victoria. In the
absence of a common investment framework to help quantify and allocate the
wider range of benefits and costs, the approach taken was to split costs between
beneficiaries based on the volume of water received from the scheme. This
approach did not allow differentiation between stakeholders receiving commercial
benefit from the water from those who did not, nor to quantify wider benefits
resulting in unacceptably high costs for some parties. Where costs increased
throughout the project due to reasonable project risks, there was a shortfall
resulting in insufficient funding. In addition, allocating maintenance responsibilities
and costs was challenging and complex. The project was not completed despite
willing partners, some available funding, work having been completed on feasibility
and detailed design and beneficial proposed integrated water cycle management
outcomes.
Incentives and accountabilities
In considering opportunities to clarify accountabilities and improve incentives for
efficient service delivery Melbourne Water supports considering all elements of the
water cycle and components of the water supply process. Melbourne Water also
supports review and change of legislative, regulatory and institutional arrangements
that is:

linked to clear policy objectives

informed by sound analysis and research

driven by end-customer benefits

implementable in a way that costs do not exceed the benefits.
Consequently, Melbourne Water would like to work with the Office of Living Victoria
and the water industry to ensure further changes in bulk water entitlements are
designed to drive integrated water cycle management outcomes and improve
efficiency outcomes for end customers. It considers refinement of the current bulk
entitlement approach, including introduction of resource costs, should be implemented
in a staged manner following trials which demonstrate the associated costs and
benefits in achieving integrated water cycle outcomes. These trials should also analyse
the impacts on end-customer prices and service levels.
Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
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Melbourne Water also notes that in the United Kingdom, as well as considering bulk
water entitlements and the potential for wholesale competition, retail competition is
also being considered as a means of improving customer choice and levels of service. 1
Melbourne Water also supports the greater use of market-based approaches and
further shared services to support the achievement of integrated water cycle
management outcomes and to build on learnings from recent experiences. This
includes competitive processes to allocate funding. More broadly, Melbourne Water
supports further exploration of competition to facilitate integrated water cycle
management outcomes, noting again the importance of a staged introduction of any
changes, supported by trials and demonstration of net benefit.
Melbourne Water expenditure: use of market-based approaches
Contestability is already reflected in Melbourne Water’s costs with 99% of capital
expenditure and 88% (or 75% excluding Victorian Desalination Plant costs) of
operational expenditure being contracted out and are therefore subject to
competitive processes.
Waterways and drainage operations and its
Charter
Melbourne Water would like to work with the Office
of Living Victoria to ensure the implementation of
Melbourne’s Water Future fulfils the outcomes sought
for waterway protection, in particular through
mitigation of peak stormwater flows and through
infiltration to groundwater to enhance waterway
base flows that have been markedly reduced by
urbanisation.
1
12
For more information see http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm82/8230/8230.pdf
Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
10,000 Raingardens: simple effective local solutions
Urban stormwater remains the biggest threat to water quality in our waterways
because of the pollutants it carries. Melbourne Water’s 10,000 Raingardens Program
promoted a simple and effective form of stormwater treatment. It raised people’s
awareness of:

how stormwater fits into the water cycle

how good management of stormwater contributes to healthy waterways, and

what can easily be done at home to manage stormwater.
A raingarden is a specially prepared garden designed to receive, slow down and filter
rain runoff from roofs or impervious ground-level surfaces such as driveways or
paving. Raingardens are a simple way to help the environment and the health of our
local waterways. Rain runoff can carry many harmful pollutants from our urban
environments. Unchecked, these pollutants are washed into our waterways. During
and after heavy rain, the large volumes of stormwater also scour creek beds causing
serious erosion, and have a serious impact on aquatic life.
The program commenced in 2008 and focused on creating raingardens in public
places, such as streets, parks and schools, and on private properties. Earlier this
year Melbourne Water achieved our target of 10,000 raingardens across the
Melbourne region. The program has now been incorporated into our stormwater
program.
Melbourne Water would also like to work collaboratively with the Office of Living
Victoria to further explore and implement the proposal to co-invest in whole-of-watercycle projects through a pilot project on market based incentives that deliver on the
targets and commitments that have already been made to the community. We look
forward to discussing the Office of Living Victoria’s co-contribution to such a pilot.
Simple incentive programs and strong community engagement has delivered good
outcomes to date (through the current Little Stringybark Creek incentives model,
Dobson’s Creek, Rural Land Program and various river health incentives). Previous
trials of more complex market-based mechanisms (through both an auction and
tender model at Little Stringybark Creek) have produced important lessons that can
be learnt from. Future market-based incentives projects will need to have clearly
defined community outcomes and deliver multiple benefits. It is important to note that
Melbourne Water’s mandate for environmental protection is not only directly through
the water cycle but also through vegetation, weed control, erosion control, habitat
provision etc. as part of holistic integrated catchment management.
Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
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The Waterways and Drainage Strategy (formerly Waterways Operating Charter)
provides an excellent leverage point to launch a truly integrated approach to water
management in Melbourne. From the environmental protection it provides to some of
our natural ecosystems, to the wellbeing provided to residents and visitors by open
space and the resilience to our potable water supply. Melbourne Water looks forward
to working with the Office of Living Victoria to continue our contribution towards the
liveability of Melbourne.
Waterways Research Partnership: rural and urban catchment management
Melbourne Water is collaborating with the University of Melbourne to deliver a
partnership program will target several strategic research gaps identified in Melbourne
Water’s Healthy Waterways, Stormwater and Integrated Water Management
Strategies.
The Melbourne Waterways Research Partnership represents a new approach to
waterway management research within the Melbourne region for the next five years.
The program will focus on understanding the drivers of waterway ecosystem condition
in both urban and rural environments, and the prioritisation and design of
interventions at the catchment and in-stream scale that best protect and restore
waterway ecosystems. It will do this through a dual approach of applied research and
knowledge transfer.
By undertaking dedicated timely and relevant research to improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of waterway management across the region, the program will help
inform the evolution of the next round of Melbourne Water waterway strategies. It will
also provide an open framework for collaborations, and will actively seek opportunities
for integrated and complementary projects with other waterways and stormwater
research groups and natural resource management agencies. The program has a
dedicated knowledge broker to achieve its knowledge transfer aims and integration of
research findings into Melbourne Water’s business activities.
Maintaining efficient asset use
The water supply network operated by Melbourne Water, transfers water from major
reservoirs in hills to the North, East and North East to locations throughout the
Melbourne metropolitan area. Melbourne Water’s network is operated based on an
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Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
agreed annual operating plan with the retail water authorities to achieve service
delivery, cost and environmental outcomes.
Geography and foresight mean Melbourne is fortunate that the majority of the
metropolitan area can be serviced by gravity and minimal pumping is required. In
addition minimal treatment is required due to the protected catchments. This has
helped to maintain the relatively low cost of Melbourne’s water services until recently.
The current network was designed and built many years ago based on water demands
and current technologies at that time. Historically during hot weather water demands
were up to three times the averages. The recent extended drought, the associated
water conservation measures, water restrictions and Melburnians’ excellent efforts in
changed water use behaviour has meant that we have not had such ‘peaky’ demands
nor had to invest in additional network capacity.
As Melbourne and the region move into a post-drought period it is important that we
retain a focus on efficient water use as this will help maximise the use of existing
capacity and reduce investment in additional high-cost gravity pipelines or pumping
previously gravity supplies.
Engaging widely and thinking beyond the water cycle
Melbourne Water sees integrated water cycle management not only as the integrated
management of the various elements of the water cycle, but also encompassing the
management of water within its environs. Melbourne Water’s vision reflects its
commitment to support a broad suite of services linked with water cycle management
to enhance the liveability of our city. Some example of opportunities beyond the direct
management of the water cycle include the:

sustainable use and recovery of resources (including energy) associated with
water and wastewater treatment

integration into the built environment through urban planning

provision of complimentary recreational services.
Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
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Water recycling west of Melbourne: recycled water for peri urban use
Western Treatment Plant supplied 11,080 million litres of recycled water to
customers in 2012–13. This comprised 8,438 of recycled water used onsite, by the
agricultural business MPH Agriculture, mostly Class C water for pasture irrigation
and salinity management, and 2,643 million litres of Class A recycled water
supplied to Southern Rural Water and City West Water for offsite customers.
Southern Rural Water supplied 67 million litres of Class A recycled water to
customers in the Werribee Tourist Precinct. 2,309 million litres of Class A recycled
water was supplied to the Werribee Irrigation District. Melbourne Water supplied
267 million litres of Class A recycled water to City West Water for the West
Werribee Dual Supply, Werribee Employment Precinct, MacKillop College and
standpipes for water carters.
In addition, 16,416 million litres were provided for conservation purposes in the
Ramsar-listed wetlands. Including the conservation flow, 16 % of Melbourne
Water’s treated wastewater from both the Western Treatment Plant and the
Eastern Treatment Plant was recycled.
Melbourne Water believes that there are significant opportunities for integration of
water cycle management with other resources (e.g. land, waste, energy) and services
(e.g. public space planning), and that this should be considered when finalising
Melbourne’s Water Future. With the imminent release of the draft Metropolitan
Planning Strategy, the time is right to align Melbourne’s water future with that of the
urban environment of our city.
Rising prices of raw materials, improved technologies for treatment and innovation in
product design is leading a transition into a circular economy for resources. In this
model, waste is removed and the energy and resource components embedded in
products are maintained, reused and disassembled. This is driving smarter and more
innovative waste management approaches. Linking energy, carbon, water, waste and
agriculture requires shifts in organisational mindsets 2 and also has the potential to
provide great future opportunities for the water sector.
2
McKinsey Global Institute (2011). Resource Revolution: Meeting the world's energy, materials, food and
water needs. McKinsey & Company
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Energy Recovery: reducing cost and environmental impact
Melbourne Water is one of Victoria’s largest energy users, with many sites across the
metropolitan area including two large wastewater treatment plants. Implementation of
Melbourne Water’s Energy and Greenhouse Strategy has seen improved energy
efficiency, a reduction of 47% in greenhouse gases and more than an eleven fold
increase of in renewable energy generation (from 33GWh to 369GWh per annum)
since 2000-01.
In the early 1990s Melbourne Water began to treat sewage in covered sewage
treatment lagoons. Covers placed over the lagoons at the Western Treatment Plant
reduce odour and capture the biogas produced by the sewage treatment process.
Now, rather than release the gas into the air or burn it off, Melbourne Water uses the
biogas to power engines and generate electricity at its wastewater treatment plants –
the Eastern and Western Treatment Plants. The Western Treatment Plant generated
95% of its own energy needs in 2011-12. The Eastern Treatment Plant utilises most of
its biogas to power over one third of the plant’s power. At the Eastern Treatment Plant
tri-generation recovers heat from engines and uses it for two purposes: heating the
digesters and chilling water for the plant both of which reduce treatment costs.
Melbourne Water planners searching the water supply system for places to reduce
pressure came up with the innovative idea: turbines which generate electricity from
water pressure and flow, rather than the energy being lost in a pressure reducing
valve. Hydroelectric turbines run successfully at Thomson, Cardinia, Preston, Notting
Hill, Mount View, Olinda, Upper Yarra and Silvan, producing electrical energy and
emitting no greenhouse gas.
In conjunction with Smart Water Fund and Flinders University, Melbourne Water has
a research pilot project underway to quantify the potential benefits of wastewater
treatment and resource recovery (including energy) using algae.
Openness, innovation and learning
Melbourne Water supports the focus Melbourne’s Water Future places on transparency
and accessibility of information and knowledge to promote informed community
discussion, increased accountability for service provides and improved opportunities
Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
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for innovation3. Research and knowledge management is important issue for
integrated water cycle management as are the effective use of pilot projects and
mechanisms for reflection, review and learning.
Monitoring, access and use of data
Data and its management are foundational to effective planning, monitoring and
operation of water systems. Robust data provides a foundation to good decision
making. Melbourne Water supports initiatives to provide greater community access to
data. Developments in information management - particularly data collection,
processing and advances in data analytics - means that water system management
will continue to be enhanced through data management. Melbourne Water
recommends that initiatives to develop data management systems build on, and
enhance, existing arrangements and developments within Melbourne and at State and
national levels. For example the Bureau of Meteorology’s National Water Accounts has
a Melbourne sub-account which provides data for the region.
Melbourne Water strongly supports the recognition of the importance and value of
data in supporting effective water management decisions. The increase of
decentralised systems and the increased complexity it will bring will require even
more effective data monitoring and management systems. Melbourne Water would
like to work with the Office of Living Victoria and the rest of the industry to further
define the nature and purpose of the envisaged data holdings and the extent to which
the objectives of monitoring and data management systems can be satisfied by
leveraging off recent data management initiatives.
As Melbourne’s Water Future suggests, one data set that is currently under resourced
for information is stormwater run-off volume and quality. Establishing a stormwater
volume and quality monitoring program that is spatially dispersed and representative
across the whole urban landscape would require a high degree of financial, technical
and human resourcing. Options such as establishing a stormwater monitoring program
for a spatially explicit region with a clearly defined objective and monitoring duration
may be more feasible. This would provide more cost-effective targeted information.
Water Outlook
Melbourne Water and the metropolitan retail water companies jointly develop and
publish a Water Outlook for Melbourne by 1 December each year to report the status
of Melbourne’s security of supply and the planned actions to reduce demand or
3
Melbourne Water has provided further information in relation to creation, dissemination and use of
research, knowledge and innovation as part of the Office of Living Victoria’s review
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Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
increase supply. The document’s primary purpose is to provide information for
adaptive management of Melbourne’s water supply demand balance. This is done by
providing information on the current and expected state of water resources and to the
community on the potential for water conservation actions in the event of severe
drought conditions and the implementation of the retail water companies’ drought
response plans.
Melbourne Water welcomes review of the scope of the Water Outlook. Given the
experiences during the Millenium drought (1997-2009), Melbourne Water believes the
objective of providing a central point for advice on the state of Melbourne’s water
resources to assist community preparations in the event of severe drought conditions
should be retained as the primary purpose of this document.
Melbourne’s Water Future includes a range of initiatives to enhance the Water
Outlook. There is an opportunity for the Water Outlook and the Office of Living
Victoria’s proposed Water Source web-site to complement each other. Melbourne
Water, in conjunction with the retail water companies, will work with the Office of
Living Victoria to support a review of the scope of the Water Outlook. Information on
the impacts of runoff and the composition of pollutants, chemicals, sediment and
other litter in that run-off is detailed in nature. Due to the level of detail and
frequency required, Melbourne Water suggests that the Water Source website is a
better medium for publishing this information than the Water Outlook.
Community engagement
Melbourne Water supports Melbourne’s Water
Future’s focus on community engagement.
Melbourne Water’s Healthy Waterways Waterwatch
Program is a community engagement and
monitoring program that aims to increase
community understanding and ownership of local
rivers and creeks. Melbourne Water works closely
with community groups such as Landcare
Associations and Friends of Groups to support
environmental efforts and increase general
community connections to local waterways.
Waterway ambassadors, frog census volunteers
and water quality monitors are several examples of
the opportunities Melbourne Water makes available
to community members interested learning more
about their local waterways.
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Melbourne Water’s education program is designed to provide a holistic view of the
total urban water cycle. With a replica of a water smart city, tours run of our major
sewage treatment plants and an interactive stormwater model housed in the
Edithvale-Seaford Wetland Education Centre, we have reached almost 10,000
participants to date in this calendar year. On track to reach approximately 12500
participants in 2013, young people are central to our engagement efforts and have
demonstrated a willingness to actively explore components of the water cycle and
natural environment. In response to this appetite, we are continuing to expand our
efforts by offering excursions for school groups and develop specific activities such as
bug and bird identification and a giant jigsaw puzzle.
Platypus numbers: engaging the community in waterways
Last financial year Melbourne Water used results from an extensive platypus
monitoring program to run community information sessions demonstrating how
platypus numbers can be sustained with some simple behavioural changes. Focusing
on urban growth areas, we reached hundreds of people, connecting community
groups from alternate catchments and facilitating some lively debates about caring
for the environment and engaging community members in the process about their
waterways and creeks, and how if we jointly take action we can make them
healthier.
Innovation
Melbourne Water agrees that innovation is a key part of creating success across the
water industry and the delivery of Melbourne’s Water Future objectives. The changing
environment for Melbourne Water and the water industry creates the imperative for a
step change in performance. This includes creating an environment for new ways of
thinking and new ways of doing, including how we engage with customers and
communities and how we deliver our services. At Melbourne Water our culture,
expertise and ongoing access to technology advances provide the basis for a culture
of innovation that will re-position the organisation for the future. Melbourne Water
would like to work with the Office of Living Victoria to identify key opportunities to
support the organisational capability success, including enhancing our innovation
culture, providing the tools of innovation and building capability to deliver innovation
outcomes that transform the industry.
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Melbourne Water’s Melbourne’s Water Future Submission
Fibre optic solutions for pipelines: think big and have a go together
Melbourne Water is collaborating with CSIRO Land and Water, Monash University,
South East Water to monitor the performance and deterioration of new pipelines in a
cost effective manner. Current solutions are focussed more on above ground pipes.
Yet existing fibre optic sensing technology has the capability to monitor the condition
and integrity of replaced and/or new pipe assets. Fibre optic sensors have the
capability to monitor sound, vibration, strain, temperature and pressure along the
length of a pipeline.
This project focusses on developing cost effective ways to attach existing sensing
technology to pipelines to provide continuous real-time measurement of pipeline
performance. Factors that impact on a pipeline may vary over the life of the asset, so
the solution needs to cater for short term and long term issues. The system developed
needs to be upgradeable and replaceable. It also needs to be able to be: applied to
new or existing assets; installed externally, internally, or temporarily; and be used to
carry signals/messages from other sensors.
Funding for this project is being provided by Department of State Development,
Business and Innovation and Hawk Measurement Systems Pty Ltd.
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