Since July, Melbourne residents have been drinking desalinated water, which has been switched on to supplement the diminishing storage levels.
Water-saving measures, such as limiting watering gardens to between 6pm and 10am, are now in force.
The Melbourne storages are holding about 70 per cent of capacity, with the biggest, Sugarloaf, holding only 61 per cent.
Melbourne Water says the storages have experienced the driest January to June streamflows on record, with catchment rainfall down 11.2 per cent on the 30-year (1995-2024) average and streamflow around half of last year’s levels.
This has taken storage volumes to their lowest levels for the end of winter since 2020
Goulburn Valley people may remember that the Bracks-Brumby Labor Government built the north-south pipeline, connecting the Goulburn River to the Sugarloaf dam, giving Melbourne residents access to Eildon water.
The controversial project was opened in 2010. The sweetener for the worried Goulburn Valley community was the funding of the Foodbowl Modernisation project, under which $2 billion was ultimately spent upgrading irrigation infrastructure.
But the rain returned, and two years later the desalination plant was completed, thus rendering the pipeline superfluous.
We got to keep the upgrading money, but Melbourne did not get to draw on the 75 gigalitres of water.
But Melbourne Water is now warning that stream flow into the storages has been low.
So, will Melbourne come looking for water down the north-south pipeline this summer?
Melbourne Water says it has no plans to do that.
We contacted the authority to find out what they were thinking and their executive manager of service delivery, Sue Jackman, said the north-south pipeline was a last resort for human need when Melbourne’s storages were below 30 per cent.
“Our water storages currently stand at over 70 per cent,” she said.
"There are absolutely no current plans for any redistribution of water from Lake Eildon to Melbourne.
“The north-south pipeline is fully functional, and we conduct regular maintenance on the pipeline and related assets.”
The pipeline is kept filled with water in case it is needed for fire suppression.
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