Sustainable water strategies cover the four regions of Victoria: Western, Northern, Gippsland and Central regions. These strategies take a long-term view of water resource planning, considering all sources of water and the needs of towns, industry, agriculture and the environment. They guide the development, integration and implementation of management plans prepared by water corporations and catchment management authorities operating within each region.

Sustainable water strategies fulfil Victoria’s commitment to the National Water Initiative to carry out open, statutory-based water planning.

Under the Water Act 1989, the role of sustainable water strategies is to identify:

• threats to the reliability of supply and quality of water for both environmental and consumptive uses in the region;
• ways to improve and set priorities for improving the reliability of supply and quality of water for existing and future consumptive users; and
• ways to improve, protect and increase the environmental water reserve to improve the environmental values and health of water ecosystems.

The four regions the strategies encompass are:

• Northern Region (the River Murray system and its tributaries- Loddon, Goulburn, Broken, Campaspe, Kiewa and Ovens systems)
• Central Region (West Gippsland, Port Phillip, Westernport, Western, Central Highlands and Barwon Regions)
• Western Region (Wimmera, Mallee, Millicent, Portland Coast, Otway Coast, Glenelg, Hopkins and Avoca Basins)
• Gippsland Region (South Gippsland, Latrobe, Thomson, Mitchell, Tambo, Snowy and East Gippsland Basins).

The strategies are being developed by the Department of Sustainability and Environment in partnership with rural and urban water corporations, catchment management authorities, other key regional stakeholders, interest groups and communities.