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Inspections are required to ensure that our conditions are met, waterways are protected, public safety ensured, property is protected and works and building complies with standards.

We need to inspect your job at 3 stages:

  • pre-works before starting
  • practical completion
  • final inspection.

You need a pre-inspection for the proposed work on:

  • a private floating or fixed jetty, pontoon or mooring on Melbourne’s waterways
  • bridge, culvert, or waterway crossing
  • a connection to stormwater system
  • a shared pathway
  • other types of works (all other MW assets and owned land)

Prior to the inspection, you will be required to pay all relevant fees and meet conditions.

Any works undertaken without Melbourne Water approval are illegal under the Water Act.

Application process

If your work involves an underground or manmade asset like a concrete channel, you must hire a Melbourne Water preferred contractor. 

Document checklist

Note: Contractors can only apply online

To schedule an inspection, we require you to provide us with:

  • your Melbourne Water reference number
  • copy of the relevant works approvals 
  • documented evidence of fees paid

Our inspector will contact you to discuss inspection times once we receive your request and relevant documents. 
Inspections will occur at:

  • pre-commencement, to meet with the contractor who will do the work
  • practical completion of work, to assess for defects
  • the end of the defect period

Duration

We require 5 days to check applications and respond. You need to meet all the application requirements for us to proceed with the inspection. We may delay or return incomplete applications, requesting additional information.

Fees

Inspection fees will be determined upon decision letter response for the 3 sub-inspections. Any additional inspections may incur additional inspection fees. 

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 completing this application, contact us on 131 722.

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