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.

The Grid is already well advanced, with the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline under construction and the Goldfields Superpipe and Northern Mallee Pipeline already completed. The next stage will add more than 250 kilometres of new pipelines to the Victorian Water Grid. 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.
• Connecting Geelong to Melbourne’s water supplies through the new Melbourne-Geelong Pipeline.
• Connecting Hamilton to the Grampians Wimmera Mallee system via the new Hamilton-Grampians 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 Stage 4 water restrictions like Wonthaggi and Phillip Island.

Projects Underway

• Work is currently underway on the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline, which will save over 100 billion litres a year for farmers, households, future growth and the environment.

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.