The Premier of Victoria

Less water flowed into Melbourne’s dams in the past decade than in any other on record, highlighting the need for Victorians to keep up their excellent work through the Target 155 campaign.

Water Minister Tim Holding said the data also confirmed the need to diversify water sources for a growing city – especially in the face of an uncertain future climate.

Mr Holding today released an analysis of inflows in Melbourne’s four major dams which showed that 3,911 billion litres entered the major storages between 2000 and 2009, compared with the previous low of 5,033 billion litres in the 1980s.

The analysis by Melbourne Water used historic stream flow figures dating back to the 1920s, including sites where the Thomson and Upper Yarra dams were subsequently built.

“Water levels in our major catchments have fallen over the past decade, highlighting the need to diversify the state’s water infrastructure to avoid relying solely on our dams,” Mr Holding said.

“Storage levels were almost full in the 1990s but barely rose above 60 per cent in the past decade and were as low as 25 per cent in mid-2009.

“Over the same period we’ve seen households and businesses reinvent their water use with rainwater tanks, efficient appliances and simply avoiding waste.”

Mr Holding said these efforts had been critical to seeing Victoria through a period of adjustment as the State Government builds Australia’s largest desalination plant and upgrades irrigation networks to save up to 425 billion litres of water a year.

More than 80 per cent of the irrigation savings will remain in the north to be shared equally between irrigators and rivers.

“The good news is that Victoria’s water supply system is entering the new decade in a much stronger position, because we’re saving water and creating the infrastructure we need to deal with climate change,” Mr Holding said.  

Melbourne’s per capita water use was almost 40 per cent lower by the end of the 2000s compared with the 1990s. Despite strong population growth, overall water use across the decade also fell – from 4,785 billion litres in the 1990s to 4,307 billion litres in the 2000s.

“Victorians have put in a major effort to reduce their water consumption and are to be congratulated, but we still need to keep saving water,” Mr Holding said.

Melbourne Water Managing Director Rob Skinner said the decade of data showed how a changing climate meant catchments were struggling to remain wet enough to generate normal flows into reservoirs.

“This was a frustrating decade of dry catchments, long periods with no rain and dam levels finishing much lower than they started in most years,” Mr Skinner said.
“It showed the limits of our traditional supply system and it has changed how we manage water in Melbourne forever.”

In 2009, Melbourne households and industry used a total of 357 billion litres, compared with an annual average of more than 478 billion litres in the 1990s, despite the city’s population growing by more than 700,000 since 1991.  

Inflows into Melbourne’s storages in 2009 totalled 368.7 billion litres. This compares with just 287 billion litres in 2008 and 163 billion litres in 2006, and remains below the 13-year drought average of 376 billion litres.

But thanks to the rain falling at the right time of the year in 2009, dam storages rose by 2.6 per cent compared to a 4.2 per cent drop in 2008.

Overall, since Target 155 started in November 2008, Melburnians have saved 20.6 billion litres

The new Target 155 and Water Plan ad campaign will cost $4.7 million and feature in print, radio, television and online. More information can be found at www.target155.vic.gov.au or www.ourwater.vic.gov.au