Up to 400,000 ML per year (long-term average diversion limit) can be harvested from the Yarra system for consumptive use in Melbourne and surrounding areas. The Upper Yarra, O’Shannassy and Maroondah reservoirs harvest water from headwater tributaries, and a pump station at Yering Gorge is used to divert water from Birrarung (Yarra River) to Sugarloaf Reservoir.
Flow in the upper reaches of Birrarung (Yarra River) is influenced by tributaries (such as Armstrong Creek, McMahons Creek, Starvation Creek, Woori Yallock Creek, Watts River and Little Yarra River). Urbanised tributaries (such as Olinda Creek, Mullum Mullum Creek, Diamond Creek, Plenty River and Merri Creek) provide additional water to the middle and lower reaches of Birrarung (Yarra River).
Environmental flows can be released from the Upper Yarra, Maroondah and O’Shannassy reservoirs to support ecological processes and environmental outcomes in downstream river reaches and wetlands. The priority environmental flow reaches in Birrarung (Yarra River) are reaches 2 and 5, shown in Figure 3.2.1. Reach 6 is also a priority in summer and autumn to
manage poor water quality upstream of Dights Falls, as flow targets in reach 5 may not be sufficient. Water for the environment delivered to reaches 2 and 5 will help meet flow targets in other reaches.
Plenty River rises from the slopes of Mount Disappointment in the Great Dividing Range about 50 km north of Melbourne. It flows downstream through rural and semi-rural areas and Plenty Gorge before joining Birrarung (Yarra River) near Viewbank, east of Banyule Flats Reserve. Yan Yean Reservoir is located off the waterway, north of Plenty Gorge, and it receives flows from Toorourrong Reservoir via a channel. The Plenty River has not received managed environmental flows before, but there may be opportunities to deliver water for the environment from Yan Yean Reservoir in the coming years.