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Stream Flow Management

Stream Flow Management Plans in the Yarra River Basin

Melbourne Water issues licences to take and use water from the Yarra River and its tributaries. These licences are normally granted to farmers who take water directly from waterways or from farm dams. Stream Flow Management Plans are developed with the aim of sharing the available water sustainably between all users. This ensures that the licensed diverters and the environment receive the water they need.

Stream Flow Management Plans include management arrangements that:

  • Recognise historical rights to water in the catchment
  • Establish environmental flows, including minimum flows and other aspects of the flow regime
  • Outline conditions that are placed on licences to protect the environment or to protect other water users
  • Define the total volume of water that can be taken under licence in any year (a cap on diversions)
  • Establish trading rules that will apply to transfers of water entitlements into, and within, the catchment.

These plans are reviewed every five years by advisory committees that typically include licensed diverters, local and state government representatives, Environment Victoria and Melbourne Water. Melbourne Water also provides executive and technical support to these committees.

After considering the feedback from the community, the committee finalises its plan and submits it to the government for approval under the Water Act 1989. Once approved, Melbourne Water must apply the prescriptions whenever it considers a licence application, sets licence conditions or approves a water transfer.

Melbourne Water has a program to develop Stream Flow Management Plans for streams across the Yarra Basin. The plan for the Plenty River catchment has been drafted and is awaiting approval from the Minister for the Environment.

Other Stream Flow Management Plans have been initiated, or are partially completed, for the Olinda Creek, Stringybark Creek, and Pauls, Steels and Dixon Creeks catchments.

It is expected that drafts of these plans will be released in mid 2005, and public comment will be invited over a 60-day period. Copies of the draft plans will be sent to all licence holders within the relevant catchments, and to government agencies, key stakeholders and interested parties.

Stream Flow Management Plans will also be completed for the Woori Yallock Creek, Watts River, Little Yarra River and Don River catchments before 2007.

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Stream Flow Tender

Pilot Project in Melbourne Water Catchments

Stream Flow Management Plans (SFMPs) aim to address the stress on unregulated rivers and creeks during low flow periods, particularly around summer. The plans provide a balanced and sustainable sharing of stream flows between all water users, including the environment. They set Environmental Flow propose new environmental flow rules that improve environmental flows in the catchments. Environmental flows set by the current draft SFMPs for Olinda, Steels, Pauls and Dixons and Stringybark Creek catchments will be implemented in 5 years. To help achieve these environmental flows earlier, the State Government is conducting a pilot project to be managed by Melbourne Water as custodian of rivers and creeks in these areas. Under this project, the State Government will provide financial assistance to licence holders, via Stream Flow Tender, for solutions that will improve environmental flows. The Stream Flow Tender will be run in the Olinda, Stringybark, Pauls Steels and Dixon Creeks in mid-2007.

How will Stream Flow Tender work?

Stream Flow Tender will allow you, as a s.51 licence holder, to decide if you can change your licence conditions over the next 1-2 years to improve environmental flows. For example, you may wish to consider changing the time you access water by increasing your management flow to the environmental flow targets. This means that you would be placed on ban when stream flows are at or below the environmental flow targets. If you are using less than your full volume of water or can improve the efficiency of water use on farm to use less water in the future, you could also consider reducing your licence volume. The Stream Flow Tender documents will clearly specify the options that are available to s.51 licence holders and these will be the only options to improve environmental flows that will be considered in the tender assessment. You can then submit a bid for funding to assist you in complying with the new licence conditions. Successful bids will be those that offer the best value for money (not necessarily the lowest bids). Successful bidders will receive funding in exchange for their agreement to change to the new licence conditions.

A number of documents have been prepared to assist licence holders in the Tender project:

The bid documents have been sent out to individual licence holders. If you require a new bid document, please contact Melbourne Water on 131 722.

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Declaration of Water Supply Protecting Areas

The Minister for Environment and Water has declared the following as Water Supply Protection Areas:

  • Olinda Creek Catchment
  • Stringybark Creek Catchment
  • Steels, Dixons and Pauls Creek Catchments

These declarations enable Stream Flow Management Plans to be developed for each of the three areas that will specify the future management of surface water licences.

  • Olinda Creek rises near Silvan and passes through the townships of Kalorama, Mt Evelyn, Lilydale and Coldstream before joining the Yarra River near Yering
  • Stringybark Creek rises near Wandin and passes through the townships of Yering and Gruyere before joining the Olinda Creek
  • Steels Creek rises near Kinglake and joins the Yarra near Yarra Glen, Dixons Creek flows into Steels Creek
  • Pauls Creek rises near Toolangi and joins the Yarra near Yarra Glen.

Plans of the areas can be inspected by clicking on these links:

For more information, please contact Melbourne Water on 131 722.

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