History
Melbourne's piped water supply commenced operation in 1857, with the completion of Yan Yean Reservoir, adjacent to the Plenty River.
In 1891, the newly-formed Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works became responsible for Melbourne's water supply system. This included Yan Yean Reservoir (supplemented by the Toorourrong Scheme), the first stage of the Maroondah Scheme and six metropolitan service reservoirs.
Melbourne's water supply has since been progressively improved with diversions from upland tributaries of the Yarra River:
- 1908: The Maroondah Scheme was extended with a pipeline diversion from Coranderrk Creek
- 1927: Maroondah Dam was completed, replacing a diversion weir upstream of the site
- 1928: A diversion weir on the O'Shannassy River was completed in 1914 and replaced by the O'Shannassy Reservoir
- 1932: Silvan Reservoir was completed to regulate the increased flows in the O'Shannassy Aqueduct from the Upper Yarra River and Coranderrk Creek diversions
- 1939: The diversion of water from the Upper Yarra River commenced with a weir upstream of the present dam and an aqueduct and pipeline to the O'Shannassy Aqueduct
- 1953: While the Upper Yarra Project was being built, a 1.7 metre diameter pipeline from a basin near Starvation Creek to Silvan Reservoir was completed
- 1957: The Upper Yarra Dam was completed , and the total storage capacity of Melbourne's system was tripled to nearly 300,000 million litres
- 1964: A duplicate 1.7 metre diametre pipeline from Starvation Creek to Silvan Reservoir was completed
- 1968 - 1971: In response to the severe drought of 1967-68, the diversion of Starvation, McMahons, Armstrong and Cement Creeks commenced
- 1969: Construction plans for Cardinia Reservoir were advanced by four years following the 1967-68 drought. Work started in 1969 and Cardinia Reservoir filled to its 287,000 million litre capacity in 1977, bringing Melbourne's total storage capacity to 610,000 million litres
- 1969: Work commenced on diverting part of the flow of the Thomson River in Gippsland, under the Great Divide and into the Upper Yarra River catchment.
- 1971: To meet growing demand in the western suburbs, particularly during Summer, a reservoir with a capacity of 27,000 million litres was completed at Greenvale
- 1975: To improve transfer capacity between Upper Yarra and Silvan reservoirs, and to enable water harvested from the Thomson River to be transferred to Cardinia Reservoir, the 2.1 metre diameter Yarra Valley Conduit and Silvan-Cardinia main were built
- 1981: The Sugarloaf Reservoir Project, including a major pumping station and water treatment plant was completed, increasing Melbourne's total storage capacity by 95,000 million litres. Sugarloaf uses water pumped from the Yarra River at Yering Gorge and water transferred from Maroondah Reservoir via the Maroondah aqueduct. This reservoir is important in meeting peak Summer demand in the northern parts of Melbourne
- 1983: The final stage of the Thomson project concluded in May 1983 with an extension of the Thomson-Yarra Tunnel and completion of the dam wall. Thomson Reservoir has a storage of 1,068,000 million litres that is available for Melbourne's water supply system
- 1991: The Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works was merged with a number of smaller urban water authorities to form Melbourne Water.