Secondary : Water Supply
Water Supply
Water Supply - From Catchment To Coast
How much water does Melbourne have?
Melbourne's water storages are currently 30.9% full.
You can see a breakdown of how much water is currently in each of our reservoirs.
For more information about the current drought in Melbourne and it's impact on our water storages, visit our Living With Drought website or download a copy of our Living With Drought fact sheet.
Where does Melbourne's water come from?
To obtain drinking water, rainwater is collected in protected catchments just outside of Melbourne. A catchment is an area of sloping land that drains and concentrates runoff into a smaller space. This is often a river or lake. Melbourne's catchments are protected from every kind of contamination. The catchment areas are secured to keep people and livestock out of the area. Those few people that are allowed in are restricted in what they may do.
Water from the catchments is normally stored in a reservoir. Over several months the bacteria consume what little nutrient is in the water and die. The water may still need some treatment to kill any remaining bacteria before it is used in homes. The water leaves Melbourne Water's catchments and enters the pipe system of three retail water companies. From here it flows to customers and households.
You can view and download a fact sheet on our catchments.
How clean is Melbourne's water?
Melbourne has some of the cleanest drinking water in the world because it requires little filtration to keep it clean. What falls in the catchments is pretty close to what comes out of your taps.
For over 100 years our catchments covering some 157,000 hectares have been reserved for the harvesting of water. Melbourne is one of only a few cities in the world which has such large uninhabited forested catchments.
In these catchments and the reservoirs associated with them, human habitation is excluded and public access, recreational use and any activities which could adversely affect water quality are minimised. This means only minimal disinfection with chlorine, chloramine or ultra-violet irradiation is required to ensure health and safety.
To further safeguard water quality, we allow long storage times of water in our reservoirs. On average, water is stored for up to five years, allowing it to be purified through settling and natural disinfection processes.
The remaining 10 per cent of water which does not come from uninhabited forested catchments is fully treated. Melbourne Water is required under the Health (Fluoridation) Act 1973 to fluoridate the drinking water supply to assist in the prevention of dental decay. Fluoridation of drinking water is supported by State and Federal health authorities, the Australian Dental Association, the National Health and Medical Research Council and the World Health Organization.
You can view and download a fact sheet on the quality of our drinking water.
Useful Teacher Resources
A list of useful teacher resources can be found under Educational Resources.