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Melbourne Water is closed for non-emergency business activities from Saturday, 21 December 2024 to Sunday, 5 January 2025 inclusive. Any applications related to asset management and protection will be reviewed upon our return on Monday 6 January.

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​If you are planning a small project that will benefit from gaining access to your property via Melbourne Water-owned land you need our consent to proceed.

Any works undertaken without Melbourne Water approval will be considered illegal under the Water Act.

​Eligibility

Projects must be small-scale, private and have a short timeline. An example would be a project of 1-2 days that involves moving landscaping materials by wheelbarrow or driving across our land with material such as mulch. Larger projects may require a licence and lease agreement. This will be determined when you submit your application.

Application process

Documents required

You must provide a description of proposed work, including:

  • machines that are required for the works

  • your intended route/footprint across our land

  • the times of access and duration of the project

Approval process

We will assess the application with a view to protecting our land and associated assets. Each application will be assessed on its merit.

We require that applicants agree to not work in wet weather, and not to use our land for storage of materials or machinery.

We may request the payment of security fees.

Inspections may be required at different stages of the works. Your letter of approval will confirm this requirement.

You may require a Permit to work to be issued for access purposes.

Duration

We are currently receiving a high volume of applications due to growth in demand for our services, which has unfortunately created significant delays. We acknowledge your patience and will make every effort to process your applications as soon as we can. View our current processing times.

Fees

Fees differ depending on the proposed work. We will advise you of the amount once we assess your application. 

Please note this application fee is non-refundable.

Fees and security for construction, works and connections.

Important information

Your application may experience a delay if there are any issues. Delays in the application process may happen if:

  • The information and documentation are incomplete or missing.
  • We need to further investigate the complexity of the development.

We assess applications on a case-by-case basis and will notify you of the following outcomes once we have completed the review.

  1. The application approved. Project can move forward. 
  2. The application approved. Conditions need to be met before the project can move forward. 
  3. The application declined. We will notify you of the reasons the project cannot move forward. (reasons given). 
  4. Application needs to be assessed further, and we need more information.

Contact us

If you need any help to complete this application, contact us on 131 722.

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