Many of Victoria’s water systems are already connected through a grid of rivers, channels, pipes and storages.

The Victorian Water Grid further links our water systems across the State by building new connections and pipelines. This allows water to be moved around Victoria to where it is needed most and reduces the impact of localised droughts in this era of climate change.

Work on expanding the Victorian Water Grid is already well advanced, with the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline, the Sugarloaf Pipeline, the Goldfields Superpipe and Northern Mallee Pipeline already completed. This gives us a network of almost 10,000 kilometres of pipeline to deliver water to those areas that need it most.

New Pipelines

• Connecting the Goulburn River to Melbourne’s water supplies via the Sugarloaf Pipeline, as part of the Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project - Sugarloaf Pipeline completed February 2010.
• Connecting Geelong to Melbourne’s water supplies through the new Melbourne to Geelong Pipeline.
• Connecting the new desalination plant near Wonthaggi to Melbourne’s dams via an 85km pipeline.
• Connecting the Westernport and South Gippsland water systems to the desalination pipeline to secure water for towns currently on permanent water restrictions like Wonthaggi and Phillip Island.

Projects Already Completed

• The Goldfields Superpipe connected Bendigo to the Goulburn River in 2007 and to Ballarat in May 2008, providing up to 38 billion litres to these important regional centres.
• The Northern Mallee Pipeline was completed in 2002, replacing open channel delivery of water to the Northern Mallee with a pipeline supply from the Murray River.
• The Wimmera Mallee Pipeline was completed in April 2010. It will save over 100 billion litres a year by replacing open channels with pipe, with the savings going to farmers, households, future growth and the environment.
• The Hamilton Grampians Pipeline was completed in June 2010, connecting the Hamilton water supply system to the Grampians Wimmera Mallee System, allowing Hamilton and surrounding towns to share in saving from the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline

Water Security Framework

Under the Government’s Water Security Framework, all water authorities will be obliged to maintain adequate urban water reserves, so that the water in storage plus water available from other diversified sources is enough to meet unrestricted demand under a repeat of lowest inflows in history. Find out more about the Water Security Framework.