We work with many program partners, stakeholders and communities to plan, manage and deliver water for the environment in Victoria.
Program partners engage and work together to make decisions on how, when and where water for the environment will be delivered for the most effective results.
Every year is different. The environmental watering program aims to prepare for different water availability and climate scenarios.
The VEWH annual seasonal watering plan outlines potential watering under the full range of possible scenarios.
Program partners
Catchment management authorities and Melbourne Water have a major role in planning, advising on priorities and delivering environmental watering in regions across Victoria as waterway managers.
As well as broader catchment obligations, they work with their partners, stakeholders and communities to:
develop environmental seasonal watering proposals for rivers and wetlands
identify potential environmental watering actions
order water for the environment from storage managers
operate infrastructure to generate the most benefit from watering
monitor and report on the outcomes of environmental water releases.
Waterway managers consult and engage with Traditional Owners, stakeholders and local communities on environmental watering priorities and planning to explore the shared benefits for recreation, wellbeing and culture that can be supported by water for the environment.
Victoria’s water storage managers manage, store and deliver water for all uses, including environmental watering. They work with environmental water managers for the most effective outcomes of environmental water delivery within the limits of river operations.
We are committed to increasing the agency and self-determination of Traditional Owners in the Victorian environmental watering program and to supporting Traditional Owners to access and manage water on their own terms.
Waterway managers engage with Traditional Owners about cultural values and uses of waterways and how the environmental watering program can help realise cultural objectives for Country. The VEWH has started working with Traditional Owners and the government toward establishing Traditional Owner-led seasonal watering proposals.
For more information on the involvement of Traditional Owners in the environmental watering program visit Working with Traditional Owners.
In Northern Victoria the VEWH works with the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH), the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) and other environmental water holder partners in Victoria, New South Wales (NSW) and South Australia (SA) on water for the environment in Victorian waterways and across the southern-connected Murray-Darling Basin.
The VEWH works with these jurisdictions so that the combined environmental water holdings are used to deliver the highest priority watering actions each year and that watering actions across systems are well co-ordinated.
Public land managers are closely involved in planning and delivering water for the environment on public land in state forests and national parks. They consent to the delivery of environmental flows on their land after considering land management activities, public access and the risks and benefits of a watering action.
Managers include Parks Victoria, DEECA and Traditional Owner land management boards.
Scientists from Victorian research organisation Arthur Rylah Institute, university research centres and consultants contribute vital knowledge and advice on the program’s aims for native plants and animals, adaptation to climate change, and data gathered from extreme flood and drought events.
Scientists also work with waterway managers to monitor results of the environmental watering program.
Stakeholders
The environmental watering program draws on the knowledge of local communities and other knowledge holders to understand the environmental values of Victoria's rivers and wetlands and to manage water for the environment effectively.
Irrigators, farmers, people living close to or interested in a specific waterway or region, members of recreational and environmental groups and formal environmental water advisory groups are among stakeholders who get involved.
Waterway managers also work with Traditional Owners where self-determined and value Traditional ecological knowledge and objectives for water management.
Local communities
Local knowledge, views and experience provide essential information on the rivers and wetlands that communities love and value.
Community members help program partners find opportunities to get the most shared benefits for recreation, wellbeing and culture from environmental flows. They also help monitor the results of watering.
