Victorians expect access to good quality water for urban, agricultural, and industrial use. We also expect it to be shared in a way that protects the environmental integrity of rivers and wetlands so that reliable, clean water supplies continue for future generations.

The ‘Improving Victoria’s water resources knowledge and access’ initiative provides $133.81 million over 4 years from EC6. This investment helps Victorians to have confidence that water is shared fairly and transparently. It supports the information, systems and rules needed to understand water availability and to make sound decisions about how water is shared between communities, businesses, agriculture, Traditional Owners and the environment.

Its 3 programs are:

  • water resource strategy policy and frameworks
  • water resource data, analysis and assessments, and
  • Victorian Water Register systems and processes.

Expenditure to date

  • 2024–25 expenditure: $26.22 million
  • 2025–26 expenditure: $30.96 million

Annual progress summary

DEECA contributed to the maintenance and enhancement of Victoria’s water entitlements framework. Actions include:

Surface water and groundwater data continued to be collected, published and assessed. Highlights include:

  • maintained long-term monitoring sites and published data on the Water Measurement Information System from more than 2,000 water monitoring sites through the regional water monitoring partnership (with over 55 partners).
  • completed the successful transition of the Victorian water monitoring network from 3G to 4G technology in November 2024.
  • hosted 54 webinars to showcase the latest Victorian water and climate research to stakeholders and the broader community and provided expert water-related advice in the preparation of the Victorian Climate Science Report 2024. which can be found on the DEECA website Victoria’s climate science page.

Victorian Water Register (VWR) systems and processes continued to be maintained and enhanced. Highlights include:

  • delivered a refresh of the governance for the VWR work program, and held the inaugural meetings of the 6 VWR governance forums represented by both internal and external stakeholders during September 2024
  • completed delivery of a proof of concept in March 2025 for migration of the VWR platform onto modern, supported technology
  • prepared an updated business case and detailed costings for the uplift of the VWR, including obtaining all approvals necessary to close Phase 1 of the work program (Planning and Proof of Concept) and commence Phase 2 (VWR Migration).
  • continued to deliver high quality water register services and reporting, including releasing the 2022–23 Victorian Water Accounts (being the 20th anniversary edition) in October 2024 and temporarily moved to a new approach for competitive inter-valley trade openings to provide a more reliable experience for traders in November 2024.

DEECA contributed to the maintenance and enhancement of Victoria’s water entitlements framework. Actions include :

  • Strategic water-related advice was provided to facilitate Victoria’s clean energy transition. In December 2025, the former Minister for Water approved AGL’s application to access surface water for Loy Yang mine rehabilitation, subject to conditions that protect the entitlements of other uses and values in the Latrobe River system. Subsequently the Victorian Government decided that revenue received from water access for the Latrobe Valley mine rehabilitation will go back to local communities and families, including though opportunities to improve waterway health and the long-term resilience of the Latrobe River system, water security and efficiency projects and enhanced self-determined outcomes for Gunaikurnai Traditional Owners.
  • Key reforms to strengthen regulation of Victoria’s water resources and catchments including:
    • Amended the Water (Infringement) Regulations to simplify of rules for unauthorised take of water and enabling water corporations to use Penalty Infringement Notices for new offences including meter tampering.
    • Developed the Water and Catchments Regulatory Framework , which establishes a consistent, risk-based approach to monitoring, compliance and enforcement across all Water Authorities. Development of the Framework has been supported by extensive sector consultation, alignment of existing policies and guidance, and preparation of implementation actions to support capability uplift and more transparent, effective regulatory practice across the portfolio.
  • Jointly with NSW, investigated options to improve access to Goulburn, Barmah and Murrumbidgee trade opportunities and consulted publicly on the most suitable option for implementation.

Surface water and groundwater data continued to be collected, published and assessed. Highlights include:

  • In September 2025, DEECA published the findings from the Victorian Water and Climate Initiative. The report brings together the science from the previous four years of research, done in collaboration with the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, helping government, water corporations and communities better understand how climate change is affecting Victoria’s water resources.
  • In  November 2025, DEECA published updated guidelines for assessing the impact of climate change on water availability. The guidance translates the latest science to help Victoria’s water sector, and water dependent industries, make more informed decisions and become climate resilient. This supports more consistent, evidence-based planning for secure water supplies, healthy waterways and long-term community resilience.
  • In March 2026, DEECA released a state-wide assessment of groundwater Sustainable Yields, which is a foundational component of Groundwater Management 2030 (GM2030). The assessment will enable more informed and adaptive decision making to manage the risks associated with groundwater use and climate change and protect reliability of supply and groundwater-dependent ecosystems.
  • Progress on a 10-year groundwater monitoring strategy to provide an efficient and cost-effective network that can provide the necessary information to manage risks to groundwater resources.
  • Maintaining long-term monitoring sites and published data on the Water Measurement Information System from more than 2,000 water monitoring sites through the regional water monitoring partnership (with over 55 partners).
  • Victoria’s surface water models, developed through the National Hydrological Modelling Platform - Source, were used to support timely and cost-effective policy, planning and investment decision, and helping to ensure water decisions are based on reliable evidence. This included informing entitlement and licensing decisions, environmental flow assessments, regional waterway strategies, work on the Basin Plan Review, urban water strategies and across major water planning and water recovery work such as the Broken Review business case.

Victorian Water Register (VWR) services continued to be maintained and enhanced. Highlights include:

  • continued to deliver high-quality water register services, water accounting services and reporting services, including:
    • customer service and support for water entitlement holders and market participants
    • seasonal allocation updates throughout the year, end-of-water-year processing including implementation of the Minister's carryover rules, and provision of customer statements
    • release of the 2023–24 Victorian Water Accounts in November 2025
    • release of water market reports, including annual water trading reports and updated water market trends reporting, to improve transparency and access to information about Victoria's water markets, and
    • delivered the 2025–26 inter-valley and interstate trade openings, with system enhancements improving trade opening processing efficiency and customer experience.
  • continued to modernise the Victorian Water Register through:
    • strengthened customer account security through the implementation of multi-factor authentication for the My Water and Broker Portal online services, while maintaining uninterrupted access to water register services during critical trading periods, and
    • progression of Project Evolve, including procurement and planning activities to support migration of the VWR to a modern, supported technology platform.

Page last updated: 28/10/26