Extracted from Melbourne Water’s
Environment Compliance report Q3 (2012/13)
Waterways
The following information describes the physico-chemical and bacteriological condition of
Melbourne’s waterways during the reporting period. Objectives set out in the three
relevant State environment protection policies (SEPPs) are the long-term targets for
water quality. There is no specific statutory obligation on Melbourne Water to meet
these targets.
This report uses a rolling twelve months of waterway water quality data and uses the
relevant statistical measure from the particular SEPP schedule and segment a waterway
falls within. The performance tables show performance against relevant SEPP objectives
with red indicating a failure to meet SEPP and green indicating compliance with SEPP.
The number in each cell is the result for the previous 12 months and is compared against
the relevant SEPP objective (in blue).
Waterway monitoring data from the last twelve months showed that waterways within
Greater Melbourne performed well for pH, with most catchments complying with SEPP
objectives. Some waterways perform poorly for dissolved oxygen, whilst others in the
Werribee/Maribyrnong and Yarra catchments improved compared to the same period last
year. All waterways performed poorly for nutrient levels and turbidity with most
catchments having few sites that comply with phosphorous, nitrogen, turbidity or E.coli
objectives.
The following charts show SEPP Compliance at Melbourne Water’s monitoring sites.
Waters of the Yarra Catchment
%DO
pH
pH
Turb
(NTU)
TP
(mg/L)
TN
(mg/L)
min
min
max
50%
max
max
Parks and Forests
85
6.5
8.5
5
0.03
0.2
Big Pats Creek
291 A11
90
6.5
7.6
14
0.07
1.7
McMahons Creek
ES 686 G2
92
6.5
7.8
9
0.11
2.1
O'Shannassy River ES 686 C3
93
5.9
7.4
2
0.01
0.8
Starvation Creek
85
6.3
7.5
10
0.13
2.6
Rural Eastern Waters
80
6
8.5
15
0.05
0.6
Arthurs Creek
185 K4
48
7.1
7.7
36
0.13
2.3
Cockatoo Creek
310 E1
81
6.5
7.4
30
0.13
2.1
Coranderrk Creek
278 C10
90
6.7
7.4
3
0.04
0.8
Diamond Creek
ES 648 C7
27
6.7
7.9
43
0.14
3.8
Hoddles Creek
287 F6
80
6.7
7.7
23
0.12
1.8
Little Yarra River
288 C6
84
6.6
7.4
21
0.11
1.4
McCrae Creek
305 K10
84
6.4
7.4
28
0.15
1.9
New Chum Creek
270 C6
87
6.7
8.0
15
0.06
4.2
Pauls Creek
276 B1
49
6.6
7.4
30
0.15
2.3
Shepherd Creek
308 F11
85
6.4
7.4
21
0.11
2.0
Steels Creek
275 C2
72
6.8
7.5
30
0.10
1.4
Stringybark Creek
275 A9
60
6.9
7.4
36
0.27
2.7
Wandin Yallock Creek
285 G4
53
7.1
8.0
28
0.22
3.0
Watsons Creek
24 F1
67
7.4
7.9
16
0.07
2.0
Watts River
ES 650 H10
73
6.7
7.1
12
0.07
1.2
Woori Yallock Creek 286 A10
73
6.6
7.8
32
0.13
1.9
Woori Yallock Creek 305 K8
82
6.6
7.6
26
0.13
1.8
Yarra River
289 E4
90
6.7
7.6
9
0.17
2.3
Yarra River
287 H6
84
6.7
7.6
13
0.10
1.5
Yarra River
277 G7
84
6.6
7.1
19
0.07
1.3
Yarra River
274 E8
78
6.6
7.2
28
0.07
1.4
Rural Western Waters
60
6
8.5
25
0.05
0.6
Bruces Creek
246 G8
32
6.4
7.4
30
0.16
2.1
Merri Creek
387 H2
61
7.4
8.2
13
0.31
12.3
Plenty River
183 K11
80
7.4
7.9
39
0.16
2.5
60
6.5
8.5
30
-
-
73
7.1
7.9
12
-
-
Waterway
segment
Melways
292 G1
Upper Estuary
Yarra River
43 J9
Waterway
segment
Melways
Urban Waters
%DO
pH
pH
Turb
(NTU)
TP
(mg/L)
TN
(mg/L)
min
min
max
50%
max
max
60
6
8.5
25
0.1
1
Andersons Creek
23 B12
59
7.3
8.0
33
0.22
3.5
Brushy Creek
279 B9
64
7.0
7.6
50
0.32
5.2
Darebin Creek
31 E11
57
7.9
8.8
10
0.15
2.9
Diamond Creek
21 H9
61
7.3
7.8
70
0.18
1.9
Edgars Creek
18 A10
67
7.3
8.4
11
0.20
2.8
Gardiners Creek
59 C2
66
7.5
8.6
13
0.27
3.4
Gardiners Creek
60 J10
56
6.9
8.7
21
0.30
4.0
Jumping Creek
24 A11
43
7.0
8.0
16
0.15
2.5
Koonung Creek
32 D10
25
7.2
8.0
17
0.12
2.2
Merri Creek
2D C4
71
8.0
8.4
11
0.22
3.1
Moonee Ponds Creek43 B1
16
7.7
9.1
9
0.23
3.3
Moonee Ponds Creek6 D8
10
7.3
7.9
20
0.43
2.7
Mullum Mullum Ck
34 F3
74
7.3
7.8
38
0.29
3.3
Olinda Creek
280 J1
71
7.2
7.7
35
0.12
2.9
Olinda Creek
38 H10
68
7.1
7.8
15
0.27
2.5
Plenty River
20 K12
71
7.3
8.0
59
0.17
2.3
Ruffey Creek
33 D4
74
7.5
8.0
13
0.12
3.2
Scotchman Creek
Yarra River
Yarra River
69 D1
45 B1
23 F11
84
59
90
7.4
6.9
7.1
8.2
7.7
7.8
13
34
24
0.53
0.10
0.09
4.3
1.5
1.5