We are responsible for supplying drinking water to customers throughout Melbourne’s Central Business District and inner and western suburbs. As a Victorian Government owned company, we are subject to regulation of the management of water quality.
All our water supply comes from three large reservoirs managed by Melbourne Water:
- Silvan reservoir is in Melbourne's east and is the heart of the water transfer system. Water from Silvan is transferred to most parts of Melbourne's metropolitan area. Silvan also stores water from the Upper Yarra system and the Thompson River for transfer to Cardinia.
- Greenvale reservoir is about 20 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, and supplies water to the north-western and western suburbs.
- Sugarloaf reservoir uses water pumped from the Yarra River at Yering Gorge and water transferred from Maroondah Reservoir via the Maroondah aqueduct.
During 2007-08 11% of our water came from Silvan, 23% from Greenvale and 66% from Sugarloaf.
Our water assets consist of a network of storage tanks, water pipes, pump stations, monitoring systems and meters.
In 2007-08, we spent $4.32 million on preventative maintenance and condition monitoring of water assets.
Investment in water main renewals was $21.1 million with 41.7 kilometres of water mains renewed.
Water quality monitoring
To confirm the quality of the water supply, we arrange independent sampling and testing at the supply points to some 400 properties throughout our service area; this happens on a day-to-day basis throughout the working week.
Each year, over 2,500 microbiological and 400 physical/chemical samples are collected and tested on our behalf by an independent, specialised laboratory, certified by the National Association of Testing Authorities. Details of the tests undertaken, together with actual test results, are presented in our Annual Drinking Water Quality Report.