Tidal gates closures

Flood gates separate the Tidal Waterways and Town Centre Marina from Patterson River. They normally open at low tide so boats can access the river, but close when flows or tide levels are high.

As the responsible drainage authority, Melbourne Water has the right to close the gates any time at our sole discretion. To avoid getting locked in or out, we encourage you to check the weather and tide times before sailing, and the water level marker at the gates. This can help you assess if the gates are likely to close soon.

Next gate closure

View the likelihood of the gate closing at the next high tide.
Please note: Predicted high tide is in Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST). During daylight savings, add 1 hour.

Deciding to close the gates

We monitor water levels in the Patterson River, and only close the gates when it reaches 0.60-0.65m Australian Height Datum (AHD), or when needed for maintenance or to test remote gate operations.

A number of factors can raise water levels and make gate closures more likely. These include:

• rainfall increasing the amount of water entering Dandenong Creek and Patterson River
• strong westerly winds pushing tides from the bay into Patterson River
• high tides when combined with rainfall and westerly winds, but generally not on their own.

We are investigating ways to notify people when the gates close, but this is difficult to predict. Sudden weather changes mean we may quickly need to close the gates at any time of the day or night.

Maintenance schedule

Every three months we schedule maintenance to clean and dredge the tidal gates at Whalers Cove, Runaway Bay and the town centre. During this time, these areas are only publicly accessible from 12pm to 12.30am.

Every five years we must also undertake corrosion protection works. For more information, see Patterson Lakes Tidal Gates corrosion protection works.