Maribyrnong Main Sewer Connection project

In Melbourne, a safe, clean and healthy environment is essential to our way of life. Our city if always changing with more people calling Melbourne home. Without improvements, our sewerage network will reach capacity. That’s why we’re connecting the North Western Main Sewer to the Maribyrnong Main Sewer via a new tunnel below the Maribyrnong River.

Why this project is important?

This sewer is one of the main sewers in Melbourne Water’s sewerage network. The new sewer will:

• Provide a secure and reliable sewerage service for more than 86,000 people over the next 100 years
• Transport sewage to the Western Treatment Plant, located in Werribee
• Protect the Maribyrnong River by containing sewage flows.

Stage 2 construction timeline

The second stage of this project from Medway Golf Club in Maidstone connecting to the Maribyrnong Main Sewer in Avondale Heights is on hold while we coordinate the next stage of work with ongoing investigations into long-term flood protection for this part of the Maribyrnong River. This approach helps ensure the project can be delivered safely, efficiently, and with as little disruption to the community as possible.

What about the new bridge and shared use path?

Following the Maribyrnong River flood in October 2022, Melbourne Water revised the flood modelling tools used in planning projects to better reflect the changing climate conditions.

The new flood modelling shows that the proposed pipe bridge would create adverse impacts to the flood plain in the event of a flood. Therefore, the decision was made not to proceed with the pipe bridge and to tunnel under the river instead.

Maribyrnong City Council are reviewing options for the shared use path along the Maribyrnong River now that the pipe bridge will not proceed.

Timeline