Our Role
As the caretaker of river health in the Port Phillip and Westernport region we manage:
- rivers and creeks
- floodplains - the land surrounding rivers and creeks that can sometimes experience flooding
- the regional drainage system - drains, gutters and channels that carry rainwater from roofs, roads and buildings to rivers and creeks.
We aim to:
- make sure our rivers, creeks and wetlands are popular places to visit
- have healthy rivers and creeks with more native animals and plants
- provide a safe level of flood protection for communities
- work with communities to protect our rivers and creeks
- protect water quality and meet State environment protection targets
- make sure urban development does not harm our rivers and creeks
- base long-term decisions on research and monitoring
- achieve a balance between social, economic and environmental outcomes.
More information:
What areas do we manage?
Our area of responsibility covers the 12,800 square kilometre Port Phillip and Westernport region, which includes Werribee, Maribyrnong, Yarra, Dandenong and Westernport.
In our region, we manage approximately:
- 8,400 kilometres of rivers and creeks
- 1,400 kilometres of drains
- 159 wetlands
- 104 urban lakes
- 213 flood retarding basins.
Note: Our area of responsibility increased by 5,000 square kilometres in 2005 to include the whole Port Phillip and Westernport region.
More information:
- Our new areas of responsibility
- Who else is responsible for rivers and creeks?
- Drainage and stormwater
Why look after our rivers and creeks?
Because our rivers and creeks:
- are popular places to visit and help to make Melbourne a more liveable city - more than 100 million visits are made each year to our rivers, creeks and wetlands
- support more than 1860 species of native plants, 600 species of native animals and some of our wetlands are internationally significant
- are an important part of Aboriginal culture, our history and heritage.
Waterways charge
A waterways charge is collected by the water corporations on our behalf from all rateable properties within our waterways and drainage boundary area. This charge helps to fund our activities.
As part of the Victorian Government's Our Water Our Future Action Plan (PDF, 2.8mb), our waterways and drainage boundary has been extended. We are now collecting the waterways charge from approximately 160,000 properties in our new boundary area.
More information: