CurrentWe’re improving the health of Dandenong Creek’s middle corridor by fostering innovation in pollution reduction and enhancing biodiversity and connectivity.
After completing Phase 1 and 2 of the Enhancing our Dandenong Creek program, Melbourne Water will continue to deliver through a Better Environment Plan (BEP) for the middle corridor of Dandenong Creek.
What the BEP includes
The next phase of the Enhancing our Dandenong Creek program will see Melbourne Water implement a Better Environment Plan (BEP) for the middle corridor of Dandenong Creek, which will include a number of actions that Melbourne Water will deliver to manage and offset environmental impacts of sewer spills into Dandenong Creek and to enhance the creek’s public health, environmental and social values.
A better environment plan (BEP) is a statutory-based voluntary agreement between the Environment Protection Authority Victoria and duty holders. It offers duty holders, like Melbourne Water, and opportunity to test innovative solutions to environmental issues or to agree ways in which they can exceed their environmental obligations.
Download our Better Environment Plan from the EPA website: Melbourne Water’s Better Environment Plan (PDF, 911KB)
BEP Objectives
Melbourne Water’s vision for the BEP is:
“The public health, environmental values, cultural values, and community connections to Dandenong Creek and its surrounds are enhanced in the interim period before the upgrade of the Ringwood South Branch Sewer, with benefits enduring over the long term.”
Stay up to date
For the latest information on our Better Environment Plan or opportunities to get involved, follow the project on our online engagement platform.
Why this is important
Long-term investigations have shown that the primary stressor on the creek’s health is pollution from nearby industrial areas and residential stormwater run-off. Rather than undertake a conventional sewer upgrade to manage the risk of overflows into the creek, we’ve worked with the EPA to investigate alternative ways to improve water quality and deliver measurable on-ground benefits.
The Enhancing Our Dandenong Creek project was developed in partnership with local councils, businesses, community groups and state agencies. It aims to:
- improve amenity and liveability
- reduce stormwater pollution from industry
- create habitats for native fish
- manage the impact of non-compliant wet weather sewage outflows into the creek.
Watch the following video to learn more about the project:
What’s happened to date
Phase 2
The second phase of the Enhancing our Dandenong Creek project was planned to take place from 2023-24. We worked with our project partners and stakeholders to identify priorities and scope the next set of projects.
The Phase 2 projects included two key focus areas:
- improving biodiversity outcomes in the middle Dandenong catchment
- reducing pollution in the Old Joes and Bungalook Creek catchments.
The Creek Project: Investigating the health of Dandenong Creek
As part of this project we offered schools in the Dandenong Creek area a hands-on opportunity to investigate the health of their local waterway, following a successful pilot in 2021. Learn more by watching the following video:
Phase 1 achievements
The pilot project ran from 2013 to 2018, and saw $15 million invested over five years in significant works, including:
- revitalising 12 billabongs and wetlands along the creek corridor
- removing 830 metres of drainage pipe to ‘daylight’ and naturalise the creek
- planting more than 69,000 plants in billabongs, wetlands and the naturalised section of the creek
- conducting live pollution monitoring at 32 sites with data loggers
- constructing 20 fish habitats, including breeding areas
- a fish stocking program and reintroduction of two threatened fish species.
See the difference the project has made by watching the following video, which shows the creek being ‘daylighted’ over eight months:
Contact us
If you have questions or feedback on the project, get in touch with the project team:
