Core strategy documents
Healthy Waterways Strategy
The Healthy Waterways Strategy is the overarching planning document for the management of rivers, wetlands and estuaries in the Port Phillip and Westernport region aiming to ensure their value to the community is protected and improved, taking a 50-year outlook. This document provides the context for the Strategy, outlines the methodology for its development, and summarises the performance objectives for the five major catchments.
Healthy Waterways Strategy 16.8 MB (PDF)
Healthy Waterways Strategy (accessible version) 13.6 MB (DOCX)
Resource Document
This technical reference documents the methods and approaches, assumptions and limitations relevant to the development of the Strategy.
Resource Document 10.6 MB (PDF)
Engagement and Collaboration Report
This summary contains a record of the engagement activities, collaborative efforts and feedback that have shaped this Healthy Waterways Strategy.
Engagement and Collaboration Report 7.4 MB (PDF)
Co-Designed Catchment Programs
Adaptive programs have been collaboratively designed for each of the five major catchments. These programs will be reviewed and updated over the 10-year life of the Strategy to reflect changes in catchment condition, progress of works, and to respond flexibly to emerging opportunities or challenges.
Dandenong Catchment Region 7.3 MB (PDF)
Maribyrnong Catchment Region 9.1 MB (PDF)
Werribee Catchment Region 15.4 MB (PDF)
Westernport and Mornington Catchment Region 16.6 MB (PDF)
Yarra Catchment 7.9 MB (PDF)
Monitoring and evaluation
Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement Framework
The Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement (MERI) Framework outlines monitoring requirements for all targets (i.e. key value and waterway condition) and the regional and sub-catchment performance objectives in the Healthy Waterways Strategy and the Co-Designed Catchment Programs. The MERI Framework will include detailed Monitoring and Evaluation Plans (MEPs) for the targets, and the performance objectives for each of the three ecosystem types – rivers, wetlands and estuaries. The MERI Framework will span the full 10 years of the strategy implementation and provide an end-of-Strategy review to guide a refresh of the strategy in 2028.
The MERI Framework is a collaborative plan in line with the co-delivery model of the strategy. A number of partner organisations, community groups and individuals will contribute data and information, and contribute to evaluations as prescribed in the MERI Framework or the detailed Monitoring and Evaluation Plans.
Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement Framework 7.3 MB (PDF)
Monitoring and Evaluation Plan - Regional 2.4 MB (PDF)
Monitoring and Evaluation Plan - Rivers 8 MB (PDF)
Monitoring and Evaluation Plan - Estuaries 4.9 MB (PDF)
Monitoring and Evaluation Plan - Wetlands 4.3 MB (PDF)
Performance objectives
All performance objectives - May 2021 400 KB (XLSX)
Mid-term Review
Core Documents
Healthy Waterways Strategy Mid-term Review 16.5 MB (PDF)
Science Inquiry 21.3 MB (PDF)
Implementation Inquiry 16.1 MB (PDF)
Factsheets
Aquatic biodiversity
Improved biomonitoring of urban freshwater ecosystems using DNA barcodes 2.6 MB (PDF)
Understanding contaminant risk to environmentally sensitive areas 1 MB (PDF)
Hydrology and environmental flows
Birrarung's Billabongs: Vegetation response to environmental watering 2.4 MB (PDF)
Geomorphic change and disturbance thresholds for the protection or recovery of stream form in urban catchments 3.1 MB (PDF)
Investigating relationships between flow, channel form, instream vegetation and ecosystem function 4.8 MB (PDF)
Yellingbo hydrology works monitoring program 2.4 MB (PDF)
Liveability, community engagement and social research
Community engagement with Melbourne's blue spaces before, during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic 2.7 MB (PDF)
Increasing the effectiveness of 'next generation' citizen science programs 4.5 MB (PDF)
Stormwater management & flooding
Identification of cost-effective opportunities for addressing pollutants from industrial catchments 4.3 MB (PDF)
Impacts of sediment contaminants from urban construction on stream health 400 KB (PDF)
Optimising constructed wetland design, management and performance prediction quality 2.2 MB (PDF)
Understanding the interactions between groundwater, surface water and Groundwater Depended Ecosystems 2.6 MB (PDF)
Optimised real-time monitoring and control of networked stormwater harvesting systems 2.8 MB (PDF)
Restoring the health of urban streams through stormwater management 1.9 MB (PDF)
How can retention, use and treatment of urban stormwater protect or provide natural flow regimes for waterway health? 5.7 MB (PDF)
Re-designing streetscapes for managing stormwater and increasing tree canopy cover 2.3 MB (PDF)
Streamside vegetaton and instream habitat
Modelling the risk of Key Revegetation Species to a Changing Climate 2.9 MB (PDF)
Managing the impacts of deer on riparian vegetation and water quality 3.3 MB (PDF)
Evaluating direct seeding as a cost-effective revegetation technique 2.4 MB (PDF)
Riparian Revegetation: Assessing Restoration Outcomes 2.7 MB (PDF)
Effectiveness of rural land interventions to improve stream flows and water quality 2.7 MB (PDF)
Water quality
Developing efficient and effective methods to improve assessment of waterway health 1.8 MB (PDF)
Identifying and managing emerging contaminants of concern 1 MB (PDF)
Indicators and approaches to monitor the performance of stormwater wetlands 1 MB (PDF)
Major sources and fate of sediments in streams, wetlands, estuaries and bays to inform management opportunities 2.8 MB (PDF)
Understanding the ecological impacts of treated and untreated sewage inputs in waterways 1 MB (PDF)