• Overview
• Waterways operating charter
• Drinking water quality
  • Parameters & Reporting Levels
  • Microbiological parameters
  • Pathogen monitoring
  • Routine physical parameters
  • Inorganic chemical parameters
  • Chemical and radiological parameters
  • Organic chemicals
• Environmental Performance
  • Eastern Treatment Plant
  • Western Treatment Plant
  • Rivers and creeks
  • Energy and greenhouse data
  • Water recycling initiatives
• Consultative committees

Waterways operating charter

Melbourne Water is the caretaker of river health and the authority responsible for drainage, river and floodplain management for the whole Port Phillip and Westernport region. Our key aims are to ensure that Melbourne’s natural rivers and creeks are healthy, and that our communities are provided with a safe level of flood protection.

The Waterways Operating Charter sets out Melbourne Water’s responsibilities and the works and services required to achieve 10-year and long-term aims.

The Waterways Operating Charter 2006 covers the same life cycle as Melbourne Water’s Water Plan - from 2005/06 to 2007/08.  The 2006 Charter has 38 commitments.  Each year we audit our implementation of the Charter and report on the audit outcomes.

Key to compliance status

√	Achieved
X	Not achieved
(√)	Substantially achieved
NA	Not applicable during this year
?	Unable to be assessed

 

Thirty-six commitments were either achieved or substantially achieved and two were not.  John Kowarsky and Associates audited the detailed performance records for 2006/07 and Melbourne Water has summarised the results in the table below.

2006/07 Operating Charter performance

Commitment as set out in the 2006 Charter	99/00	00/01	01/02	02/03	03/04	04/05	0506	0607	Auditor Comments 2006/07
WQ6(b) Waterwatch Strategy Implementation Melbourne Waterwatch will continue to be supported and participation levels will be maintained.		√	√	√	NA	(√)	√	√	Exceeded target by 50%. Suggest including a spreadsheet showing summary statistics for participants for each local coordinator area
WQ6 (c) Frog Census The Melbourne Water Frog Census will be supported, with a minimum of 30 new participants each year.							√	√	Apparently doubled target value for new participants. A few participants may have been misclassified as "new". Suggest considering as well "total number of participants" to give better appreciation of level of community uptake.
MF4(a) Community Education program The River Health Communication and Education Plan will be finalized in consultation with the Advisory Committee and implemented.	√	√	√	√	?	NA	(√)	X	Submitted plan appeared to be specifically for 2006/2007 (updated November 2006), not the finalised plan to be made in 2005/2006 mentioned in the definitions and assumptions part of the commitment. Even just using the 2006/2007 plan, a number of initiatives were not completed. Noted that in some of the above cases, support was not provided.
MF4 (c) Community Projects A minimum of 45 community projects relating to waterways will be supported each year.							√	√	Well exceeded target. Supporting spreadsheets should show date of funding.
MF4 (d) Cultural Heritage Strategy Rivers and drainage-related projects will follow guidelines set out in the Cultural Heritage Strategy.							(√)	X	Noted that the previous audit was advised that sign-off was expected in September 2006
WW7 Waterway Management Plans Waterway plans for rivers of high social and environmental value will be prepared to meet the implementation targets in the Regional River Health Strategy, as defined in the Water Plan, and will be reviewed twice over their 15-year life.	√	√	√	X	X	X	√	√	Appears to have already met 2008 target.
NA 1 Waterway Management in the New Area Develop and implement a program for delivery of waterway management services in our new areas in consultation with stakeholders and the community.							√	(√)	Demonstration of concerted efforts to bring full waterway management service delivery to new areas. Works as well as investigations have been undertaken and completed. As identified last year, it would be useful to clarify targets for completion.  This point is of particular importance for 2007-08, as this is the final year of the three-year program mentioned in the "Detailed Records" section of the commitment documentation.
WW4(a) Streamflow Management Plan Preparation Environmental flow regimes will be negotiated through streamflow management plans at a rate sufficient to complete the required eight plans for submission to the Minister by December 2009.	√	X	X	X	√	√	√	√	Already exceeded 2009 target.
WW4(d)  Environmental Flows Melbourne Water will investigate the environmental flow requirements of 12 rivers and six estuaries in the Port Phillip and Westernport region at a sufficient rate to complete them by 2010.						√	√	√	12 rivers and 7 estuaries completed. Ahead of schedule, appears to already comply with 2010 target.
WW1(a) Waterway Works Approvals Where required, all approvals of works on the beds or banks of rivers or creeks will include conditions to protect values.	X	√	√	√	√	√	(√)	√	Thorough internal audit. Noted some documentation issues earlier identified by internal audit yet to be addressed.
WW1(b) Unauthorised Waterways Works All instances of known unauthorised works affecting rivers and creeks will be vigorously pursued, and a summary of proceedings will be reported annually.	√	√	√	√	√	√	(√)	√	No comment
WW5 Waterway Works River and creek restoration works will be delivered each year in accordance with the approved program and priorities to meet the implementation targets in the Regional River Health Strategy, as defined in the Water Plan.	√	7	√	√	X	√	√	(√)	3 targets already achieved or nearly achieved. 3 targets over 40% still to be achieved in final year. Recognise that targets were recently expanded with finalisation of Regional River Health Strategy.
DF2(a) Flood Mitigation (progress) Annual expenditure on flood mitigation works will be sufficient to reduce the number of vulnerable properties by 500 over the 10 years to June 2015 in areas where the priority requirements are met.	√	X	√	X	√	NA	(√)	√	Suggest spreadsheets could be simplified by removing original 2005 projections.
DF2 (c) Flood Protection All new development will comply with flood protection standards. Planning controls will further reduce the number of flood-prone properties by about 250 per year.							√	√	Good internal audit. Noted some issues identified in previous internal audit had not been addressed
DF3 Flood Event Monitoring Initial notification and subsequent forecast information will be provided to the Bureau of Meteorology for all notifiable events on stipulated waterways.	√	√	√	√	(√)	X	(√)	√	No notifiable events lead to automatic compliance.
DF1 Asset Management There will be no instances of asset structural failure that result in significant flooding, damage, disruption or personal injury.	X	√	√	√	√	√	√	√	There were no incidents recorded during the period fitting the criteria.
NA2 Drainage and Flood Management in the New Area Develop and implement a program for delivery of drainage and flood protection services in our new areas in consultation with stakeholders and the community.							√	(√)	Noted some differences Gantt chart plan produced in 2005/2006 and 2006/2007. Accepted that changes were reasonable in the light of moving into a new area and new information coming to hand. Advised that future changes would be less likely. Suggest that future reporting should explicitly highlight any initiatives where changes have been made since last year.
WQ7 Capacity Building Melbourne Water will build the capacity of industry and councils to deliver best practice environmental management of stormwater through a program of initiatives, and will report progress annually.						(√)	√	(√)	Very small number of initiatives not completed by nominated time.
WQ8 Stormwater Management Plans – Implementation Melbourne Water will implement the actions ascribed to it in Stormwater Management Plans in priority order.						√	√	√	Clear report and spreadsheet.
WQ4 Water Quality Improvement Facilities Infrastructure will be constructed in accordance with the proposed capital works program to reduce pollutant loads in urban stormwater run-off, including a reduction in average annual nitrogen loads of 100 tonnes by 2010.	√	X	X	√	(√)	X	√	(√)	Table 1 shows projects to be on schedule. The attached spreadsheet signals that 3 projects (11.6 tonnnes nitrogen) have medium to high risk of non-completion, and 8 projects (10.7 tonnes nitrogen) have medium risk of non-completion, by target date.
WQ10 Water Quality Improvement Plan Develop a water quality improvement plan for the Port Phillip and Westernport region by 2008.							√	√	No comment
WQ11 Lower Yarra Stormwater Implement a stormwater quality action plan for the Lower Yarra according to the Lower Yarra Stormwater Action Plan program.							(√)	√	No comment
MF2(a) Property Development Controls Response times will be achieved: Statutory referrals (all in the specified 21 or 28 days), Non-works offers (all in 28 days) Works offers (all in 60 days) Third party works approvals (95% in 28 days) Flood levels (97.5% in 10 days).	√	√	√	√	√	(√)	(√)	√	Well-met targets.
DF4 (a) Property Information Statements All future flood-related property encumbrance updates will be completed within one month of Melbourne Water receiving notification of a change in the relevant circumstances.	√	√	√	√	√	(√)	√	(√)	Noted very small proportion of records not available, and even smaller number slightly exceeded 30-day limit in order to maintain quality.
DF4(c) Planning Scheme Updates All councils will be provided with up-to-date flood information annually.						√	(√)	√	No comment
MF1(a) Greenfield Drainage Schemes All new growth areas in development corridors will have drainage schemes in place within three years of significant subdivisional activity commencing.	√	X	√	√	√	√	√	√	As all outstanding schemes are less than 3 years old, nothing is overdue and thus there is compliance with this commitment. Suggest having a column showing the exact date each is due (eg if activity in November 2005, scheme due in November 2008).
MF1(b) Redevelopment Drainage Schemes Redevelopment drainage schemes will be progressively prepared at a rate of 10 per year with priority given to areas where new development activity is most concentrated.						(√)	√	√	Exceeded target.
WW6 Waterway Condition Reports The condition of a proportion of rivers and creeks will be reassessed each year using the Index of River Condition at the rate required to cover all major rivers and creeks every five years.	√	√	√	√	(√)	√	?	√	Assume that "rivers and creeks" means "streams". As suggested last year, it would be useful to signal in the table a column showing what streams are due for reassessment in 2007-2008, 2008-2009, and 2009-2010.
WQ5(b) Investigations to fill gaps Investigations to fill data gaps in high value or high-risk rivers or creeks will be completed to meet the implementation target in the Regional River Health Strategy, as defined in the Water Plan.	√	√	√	√	X	(√)	√	√	5 of 2008 target 6 investigations already completed.
WQ5(a) Water Quality Data – analysis and reporting Summary water quality monitoring results from the Melbourne Water network of monitoring sites will be published annually.	√	√	√	√	X	√	√	√	73 sites rather than 72 as stated in the commitment.
WQ12 Yarra Faecal Investigations Complete a program to identify and investigate faecal hotspots in the Yarra catchment by 2008.							√	(√)	It is accepted that weather conditions may have contributed to non-completion of one dry-weather sampling run at one location.
DF5 Hydrographic Data Reporting Melbourne Water will annually update and publish a schedule setting out the quality and availability of rainfall and streamflow data and the fees for supplying it, and will meet all external requests for data within 10 working days.						√	√	√	Suggest that the spreadsheet outlining available information have date of update clearly shown.
NA3 Monitoring in the New Area Develop and implement a program to review monitoring and investigation programs in the new areas.							√	√	Implemented plans made last year and outlined plans for future year.
MF3(a) Research Expenditure A minimum of three reports will be published each year on rivers and drainage research undertaken or sponsored by Melbourne Water.	√	√	√	√	√	√	√	√	No comment
MF3(b) Research Implementation Two tangible improvements to work methods will be achieved each year as a result of research findings.	√	√	√	√	√	√	√	√	No comment
MF3(c) Research Communication A seminar involving external stakeholders will be held at least annually to communicate results and help develop priorities for further research.						(√)	√	√	Suggest greater emphasis on waterways and related research portfolio.
MF5(a) Incident Response Preparation Incident response training will be provided for all personnel involved in incident management.	X	√	√	√	(√)	(√)	?	√	Advised that adequate database of currently trained personnel is maintained and that rostered staff are drawn only from this group.
MF5(b) Incident Response Performance All incidents that require a response will be managed promptly and in accordance with Melbourne Water procedures.	√	√	√	√	√	√	√	(√)	Response times for all significant incidents were excellent. Should make explicit reference to debrief outcomes to demonstrate that there was no need for fundamental revision of arrangements.