Central and Gippsland Region Sustainable Water Strategy

Overview

The role of the Central and Gippsland Region Sustainable Water Strategy (the strategy) is to secure the region’s long-term water supplies to protect jobs, farms, ecosystems, communities, and the cultural values of Traditional Owners in the region.

Family watering plants

The Central and Gippsland Region covers the waterways and catchments south of the Great Divide down to the coast – from the Otways to Mallacoota.

Water and waterways are essential to the state’s liveability, sustainability, and prosperity. More than 6 million Victorians depend on the rivers, wetlands, and lakes in the region to live, work and play. As well as providing drinking water to 90 per cent of Victorians, water in this region is a vital input to agriculture, businesses and industry and provides critical habitat for native wildlife.

The map shows the major waterways covered by Registered Aboriginal Parties and the respective boundaries

This Strategy is needed to help us prepare for the region’s water future. With forecast drier conditions and a growing population, the region’s water supplies will need to double in the next 50 years.

The Strategy supports investment in:

water efficiency for homes, businesses and farms
increasing the region’s water supplies over the next 50 years.

The region will need to transition away from a reliance on river water for meeting our water needs. The region needs a greater reliance on manufactured water. Manufactured water includes fit-for-purpose recycled water, treated stormwater and desalination.

As the use of manufactured water increases, some river water will become available for other uses like returning water to Traditional Owners and the environment. without taking water from farmers or other water users.