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Land Development

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Requirements for developers

Developers are encouraged to discuss their plans with Melbourne Water at an early stage in the project planning to ensure appropriate decisions are made.

In many instances, developers must comply with Melbourne Water's requirements, so it is important to know what these requirements are prior to commencing works.

Constructing near Melbourne Water assets

Approval is required for any planting, utility installations (such as drains) and construction near Melbourne Water underground assets.

The Application process for constructing near Melbourne Water assets is available here.

Checking your development meets our standard requirements

The Land Development Manual outlines our requirements for providing drainage infrastructure in new urban developments.

The manual aims to provide you with information that will enable self assessment of most of Melbourne Water's standard requirements.

Register for the Land Development Manual (free online registration) and get unlimited access to relevant information and the latest requirements.

Conditions imposed by Melbourne Water can be challenged at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Developing in areas that may be at risk of flooding

To help you determine if a property is likely to be affected by flooding we have authorised Anstat and LANDATA® to supply current property flood level information on our behalf.

Obtain flood level information to find out more.

Our Guidelines for Development in Flood Prone Areas (PDF 643kb) provide direction so that all new properties, buildings and structures in Melbourne are safe from flooding.

The guidelines outline requirements for areas affected by:

  • overland flows - water which overflows from a river or creek
  • rising flows in rivers and creeks and surrounding floodplains (i.e. the land adjacent to a river or creek that experiences occasional flooding).

In some instances, development may not be appropriate because the risk of flooding is too severe.

Review of Melbourne Water’s Guidelines for Development in Flood-prone Areas (2007)

We are revising our current guidelines produced in 2007. We invited comment from stakeholders in May and June 2009 to assist us in finalising our revised guidelines, to be released by the end of 2009.

Enquiries: Town Planning Team, phone (03) 9235 7070

These guidelines complement our Land Development Manual. They are not intended to replace direct communication between a developer and Melbourne Water which is necessary to ensure adequate understanding of project-specific design parameters.

Our Guidelines for Development within the Koo Wee Rup Flood Protection District (PDF 2.07mb) outline the specific factors that developers must take into consideration due to the area's distinctive flooding nature and history.

Designing water sensitive urban developments

Developers must now use water sensitive urban design techniques to meet best practice targets for stormwater quality and discharge in new subdivision developments, under the requirements of Clause 56.07 of the Victoria Planning Provisions.

Melbourne Water encourages developers to use 'distributed' water sensitive urban design treatment measures, such as raingardens or rainwater tanks, which help improve and protect river health by removing pollutants at or near their source.

Water sensitive urban design aims to:

  • protect natural river systems within urban developments
  • integrate stormwater treatment into the landscape
  • protect the water quality of receiving waterways and bays by removing pollution close to its source
  • locally manage rainwater as it flows from the land to reduce the need for big infrastructure projects downstream
  • reduce the overall cost of drainage infrastructure.

More information can be found on the Water Sensitive Urban Design website.

Melbourne Water's role in urban development

To protect our rivers and creeks and ensure a safe level of flood protection for the community, we develop policies and guidelines for developers planning to undertake urban development activities.

We prepare drainage schemes, now referred to as Development and Redevelopment Services Schemes, to identify infrastructure requirements and charges that will fund drainage works.

We have consulted with stakeholders to develop 16 principles to review drainage schemes. These ensure a consistent approach to drainage works in new and existing developments.

If you wish to find out what these principles are, please refer to Principles for Provision of Waterways and Drainage Services for Urban Growth (PDF 180kb).

The Development Planning Annual Report 2007-08 (PDF, 630kb) describes how Melbourne Water supports urban growth across Melbourne through the implementation of its Greenfield Development Services Schemes, which are designed to cater for urban growth in the outer suburbs of Melbourne.

Information on the overall income and expenditure of schemes, changes to contribution rates and projects of interest where innovation resulted in improvements to projects are also highlighted in the report. The report also describes where long-term planning and investigations are taking place on existing drainage infrastructure to cater for in-fill development.