Yarra Valley Water

Yarra Valley Water

Agency overview
Formed	1 January 1995
Preceding agencies	Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works Melbourne Water
Jurisdiction	Government of Victoria
Headquarters	25-35 Lucknow Street, Mitcham, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Motto	To support the health and wellbeing of our customers and create a brighter future for communities and the natural environment
Employees	800
Minister responsible	Harriet Shing, Minister for Water (Victoria)
Agency executives	Pat McCafferty, Managing Director Gabrielle Bell, Chair of the Board Rob Skinner AM, Deputy Chair Victor Perton, Director Mary Kanavoutsos, Director Robyn McLeod AM, Director Karen Milward, Director Victoria Marles AM, Director Kate Vinot, Director
Parent department	Department of Health (Victoria)
Website	https://www.yvw.com.au/

A Yarra Valley Water stall at a community festival in Melbourne.

Yarra Valley Water is the largest of three Victorian Government owned retail water corporations that provides drinking water,sewerage, trade waste, recycled water, and water-saving services to over two million people and over 61,000 businesses in the northern and eastern suburbs of Melbourne, or around 30% of Victoria's population. The water distributed by Yarra Valley Water is supplied by Melbourne Water, as is the infrastructure. Oversight is provided by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action.

Yarra Valley Water's district covers approximately 4,000 square kilometres from as far north as Wallan and extending to Warburton in the east. Yarra Valley Water owns and maintains over 10,400km of water mains and over 10,300km of sewer mains.

Yarra Valley Water's activities are overseen by an independent Board of Directors appointed by the Victorian Government. Yarra Valley Water's head office is situated in Mitcham and employs around 800 staff.

Yarra Valley Water has committed to achieving net-zero emissions as part of a "beyond zero carbon" initiative, aiming for net-zero scope 1 and scope 2 emissions by 1 July 2025, with ongoing work to reduce scope 3 emissions. Efforts include installation of solar PV production facilities at various Yarra Valley Water-owned sites, which produced 671 megawatt-hours of renewable electricity in 2023-24.

Infrastructure

Yarra Valley Water manages:

• 10,475 kilometres of water supply mains
• 836 kilometres of recycled water supply mains
• 10,396 kilometres of sewer mains
• 90 drinking water and recycled water pumping stations
• 149 drinking water and recycled water pressure reducing stations
• 94 sewerage pumping stations
• 50 drinking water and recycled water service reservoirs
• 9 sewage treatment plants
• 1 food waste to energy facility (ReWaste)
• 3 recycled water treatment plants

In 2023-24, 81km of water and sewerage supply mains were renewed or replaced.

Waste to Energy

Yarra Valley Water established the ReWaste waste to energy facility in Wollert, which receives commercial food waste that is broken down using anaerobic digestion in digestate tanks, to produce biogas. This biogas is used to fuel an engine which generates electricity, powering the ReWaste infrastructure and adjacent sewage treatment plant. Excess generated electricity is exported to the power grid. The process also produces digestate, a nutrient-rich product useful in agriculture. Waste is not incinerated or burned. In 2023-24, 13,950 tonnes of food waste was processed to generate renewable electricity.

A second ReWaste waste to energy facility located in Lilydale is currently under construction, with opening expected in 2025.

References

Official website