Water is essential to our way of life. As caretakers for Melbourne’s water cycle, we care for water, life and land throughout Melbourne: both its people and its biodiversity.
In Victoria, these rights to water are defined through a water entitlement framework. Find out what we look at to determine the amount of water available and how it should be shared.
What’s a water entitlement?
A water entitlement is a legal right to take and store a certain portion of water, up to a maximum volume, depending on certain conditions. They are granted by the Minister for Water under the Water Act 1989.
Different entitlements are needed depending on where and how water is taken. Examples of what they are used for include:
- Environmental entitlements, held by the Victorian Environmental Water Holder and used to improve health of waterway and groundwater ecosystems.
- Water licences, held by individuals such as farmers, which entitle them to take and use water from a waterway, catchment dam, spring, soak or aquifer to irrigate a specific parcel of land. Each licence specifies conditions that are set by the Minister for Water.
- Bulk entitlements, held by water corporations, such as Melbourne Water and Melbourne’s retail water corporations, on behalf of consumers.
How water is allocated
Melbourne Water is Storage Manager for Melbourne’s water supply system: the Thomson, Yarra, Tarago and Bunyip rivers, and Silver and Wallaby creeks. As Storage Manager, Melbourne Water is responsible for accounting for how much water in the system is held by the different Entitlement Holders.
Water is held to supply the ‘South-Central Pool’. Seven water corporations hold entitlement to this pool which they use for urban supply in the Melbourne metropolitan area and connected regional communities. The seven water corporations with entitlement to the South-Central Pool include:
- Barwon Water
- Gippsland Water
- Greater Western Water
- South East Water
- South Gippsland Water
- Westernport Water
- Yarra Valley Water
However, not all water in storage is available for urban supply. Southern Rural Water hold entitlement in the system which is used for irrigation. The Victoria Environmental Water Holder also holds entitlement which is used to make releases for the environment. The water in storage that sits below the minimum operating level, which is not accessed under normal operating conditions, is not allocated to any Entitlement Holder.
While bulk entitlements specify limits on the maximum volumes that can be stored and diverted, how much is actually available in a given year generally depends on conditions during that year and the inflows received. So each month during the year Melbourne Water allocates water between the entitlement holders. The monthly assessment of the allocations is known as the seasonal determination.
Melbourne Water completes the seasonal determination at the start of each month, factoring in the volume of water in storages and commitments – including:
- passing flows which must be released from the storages
- the actual water volume in the Entitlement Holders’ accounts
- losses from water storages and the water transfer system
- expected inflows such as those from the Victorian Desalination Plant
- water below the minimum operating level that is not allocated
The seasonal determination is updated throughout the financial year as water continues to be allocated and is expected to increase each month.
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