Our strategic context

16 2021-22 HIGHLIGHTS

Transforming around customers

Caring for customers is in our DNA and we are proud of our trusted reputation in the community. We’re continuing our ongoing transformation around customers to ensure we provide seamless and affordable services for all.

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Key initiatives

Safe and Pleasant Drinking Water

Providing safe and pleasant drinking water is our top priority and we take great pride in our role to help Melbourne maintain its reputation for having some of the world’s best drinking water. Thanks to a legacy of our city planners, Melbourne is one of the few cities in the world with protected catchments, which help to produce the high-quality water we all enjoy. We also have a comprehensive water quality monitoring program to ensure full compliance with Safe Drinking Water regulations. An independent laboratory collected and tested over 7000 water samples this year, and we monitored and tested the water from over 1200 randomly selected customer taps in 34 different water quality zones – achieving 100 per cent compliance. Our customer research shows high satisfaction with the quality of our drinking water.

Resilience

We've continued to strengthen our emergency management response in the face of severe weather events, which threaten our water network. This includes working collaboratively with the broader metropolitan water industry and the Department of Health. We're continually improving our practices and incorporating lessons learnt from the damaging storm events in 2020 and 2021 that led to us issuing precautionary water quality notices for some customers. Additionally, we're part of a strategic interagency working group that has been formed to help guide and focus industry wide improvement to water quality and public health outcomes. We will continue to work collaboratively across the water sector, regulators and government to ensure our approach is a match for the challenges ahead. Further investment in system resilience is planned as part of our 2023-2028 Price Submission.

Affordability

We believe everyone must have access to affordable water and sewerage services. This means having robust support systems in place to ensure everyone can access our services. We know that COVID-19 continues to impact our customers’ financial wellbeing and it’s more important than ever that people can connect with support that meets their needs.

In March 2022 we launched a campaign to raise awareness of our award-winning WaterCare program which helps customers experiencing vulnerability or financial hardship. WaterCare provides a range of tailored options, including instalment plans, short-term payment extensions, access to government grants and concessions, and more comprehensive assistance if needed. Our integrated campaign leveraged new sophisticated targeting techniques combining big data and machine learning to connect our services to those most in need. In a Yarra Valley Water first, it also included communication in five languages, tailored approaches for Aboriginal audiences, and Auslan translations. For Aboriginal community, we produced ads with tailored messaging and images. We targeted these directly to reach Aboriginal community members through social media, as well as sharing with key Aboriginal community partners. This campaign has helped drive increased traffic to our WaterCare web page and helped vulnerable customers feel more comfortable reaching out for support to proactively manage their accounts.

We know that price is critical for our customers and maintaining affordable bills is central to the development of our next Price Submission.

One Stop One Story Hub

We are actively involved in the Thriving Communities Partnership (TCP), a cross-sector collaboration we helped establish, which works to ensure everyone in Australia has access to the modern essential services they need to thrive.

In October 2021 TCP launched the One Stop One Story (OSOS) Hub pilot, a world-first digital platform that helps people experiencing vulnerability and financial hardship connect with the extensive support they’re eligible for across a range of essential services. It empowers frontline staff to refer customers to a broad range of support services, across sectors and industries, through a single access point. The pilot’s focus has been on supporting members of the community impacted by family and domestic violence, which has been exacerbated by COVID-19.

The OSOS Hub means people only have to tell their story once to one organisation, making it simpler for them to navigate the support on offer, and easing the burden of having to individually contact each organisation. Customers supported by the pilot have expressed their gratitude to our staff, saying the partnership approach really makes a difference at a particularly stressful time.

The OSOS Hub was a finalist in the 2021 Shared Value Awards for Collaboration of the Year (Early Stage) and Highly Commended in this category.

The pilot is now entering its second phase, which will expand support beyond people affected by family and domestic violence into broader financial hardship groups. This phase will also bring more organisations into the partnership, creating more referral opportunities and increased potential for impact.

2021-22 HIGHLIGHTS

Transforming around customers continued...

Reliable Water and Sewerage Services

Providing reliable water and sewerage services 24/7 is a key priority. Sewage is removed and treated using the most modern and effective methods available to protect the environment and amenity. Our aim is to ensure that less than 0.96 per cent of customers experience three or more unplanned water or sewerage service interruptions a year. This year we achieved our best result yet with 0.84 per cent of customers experiencing three or more unexpected interruptions.

We have an extensive water and sewer main renewal program to continually update our 21,000km network of mains and supporting infrastructure, including tanks and pump stations. We continue to invest in new water and sewerage infrastructure to service fast-growing northern suburbs including Doreen, Yarrambat, Diamond Creek, Donnybrook, Beveridge, Wallan and South Morang.

Our program to replace ageing assets eliminates leaks and reduces network failures that can cause service interruptions. In 2021-22 we completed sewerage system upgrades including the Eltham Sewer Project, Clyde Street Sewer Project (Stage 1), Plenty Road Sewer, Northbourne Sewer and a major distribution water main upgrade in Toorak Road. We also completed two more major projects - the Lockerbie Main Sewer and Doreen to Diamond Creek Sewerage Project - to service the rapidly growing Northern Growth Corridor.

We installed secondary chlorinators at 14 reservoirs and tanks across our service area to maintain our high-quality drinking water and upgraded the Emergency Relief Structure monitoring equipment at almost 50 sites. This equipment allows us to better monitor flows during wet weather events to enable early intervention to avoid sewage overflows and to improve environmental reporting. During 2021-2022 we:

Renewed

42km

of poor performing water mains

Renewed

47km

of poor performing sewer pipes

Installed more than

650

new hydrants and water valves to reduce unplanned service interruptions Inspected

200km

of sewer pipes to assess their condition and identify blockage risks

Inspected

900

house connection sewer branches to assess the integrity of pipes

Renewed more than

2,000

house connection sewer branches

Timely Response and Restoration

We aim to fix water and sewerage services quickly when something goes wrong with a target to restore services within four hours for 91.1 per cent of customers. This year we hit that target for 96.1 per cent of customers. Customer satisfaction with our emergency response continues to be very high with 98 per cent satisfaction with our handling of fault calls and 92 per cent satisfaction with emergency repairs. We strive to ensure our services are reliable and aim to minimise disruption to customers when we need to maintain or improve our expansive water and sewerage network. We’ll continue to work closely with our contractors to achieve even better performance and efficiencies.

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Digital Transformation

Our ongoing journey of digital transformation ensures that the products and services we provide remain valued and contemporary, creating customer experiences which result in high levels of trust and satisfaction. We’ve been modernising our core technology and moving towards modern, flexible systems which are more resilient to changes in the external environment and will ultimately deliver a lower cost to serve.

In 2021-22 notable deliverables included:

• Implementing the foundations of our new customer portal and progressing the replacement of two of our core customer-facing systems (customer self-service and land development application processing). The customer self-service project (known as myAccount) which is expected to be incrementally rolled out to customers from late 2022, was recognised with a

Good Design Award in 2021. • Moving our customer SMS text functionality to the new customer platform, which resulted in reduced cost and greater in-house control of the SMS function, particularly in the event of network incidents. • Strengthening the focus on our omnichannel approach, which will help us create a seamless experience for our customer and users across all the channels we interact through. • Implementing the platform for managing Internet of Things (IoT) devices which collect and return information about the performance of our asset networks. We’re now in the process of implementing capability to integrate IoT devices into the platform, as well as other core systems such as asset management and billing. • Implementing a platform which provides us with a single view of our water and sewer networks. This enables us to be more proactive, better understand the impact of and linkages between various issues and improve the quality of our operational decisions to minimise customer disruptions.

PipeTracker continues to make life easier for customers and drive down call volumes. This mobile-friendly website allows plumbers in the field to see where our assets are located without having to phone us. As a result, call volumes have consistently fallen in recent years. We took 4,268 calls in 2021-22 compared with 5,745 the previous year.

We also promote use of the Snap Send Solve app so customers can easily report a leak or incident in our network while on the go via their mobile phone. In 2021, this partnership expanded to include an integrated reporting form via our online Faults Map, providing another quick and easy way for customers to contact us. In 2021-22 we received 8,152 reports via Snap Send Solve and we’re now averaging about 680 reports a month.

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

In 2021-22 we received

8,152

reports through Snap Send Solve

Digital Water Meters

Digital water meters are an integral part of our future. We have been conducting trials in Vermont South since 2019. Results show a promising reduction in demand with customers being alerted about unnecessary water use (such as leaks), as well as a very low opt out rate (less than 1 per cent). Our trials have been closely monitored and assessed for cost, benefit and overall customer experience.

We’ve developed our own digital water meter which we initially trialled in Vermont South. The design, development and manufacture of this digital water meter has the potential to generate local jobs, and to be offered as a solution across Australia and the region via our commercial partner.

We’re currently planning to expand the trial, rolling out a further 25,000 digital water meters to other suburbs in 2023-24. Our Price Submission engagement process has also identified strong customer support for digital water meters and other products and services with the potential to save water for the future.

Subject to the success of the expanded trial, we’ll roll out digital water meters across our entire service area, which will help manage Melbourne’s water supply more sustainably. They will enable customers to understand their water use, identify wastage, and fix leaks - saving water and reducing bills.

DIGITAL WATER METERS

We’re planning to add another

25,000

digital water meters to our trial

2021-22 HIGHLIGHTS

Transforming around customers continued...

Price Submission 5

Every five years we make a Price Submission to our regulator, the Essential Services Commission. It spells out the services we’ll provide, and the prices customers will pay. We’re in the process of developing our next Price Submission for 2023-28. Keeping pressure off prices as much as we can is a key driver. While bills have fallen significantly in recent years, we need to ensure we secure a sustainable revenue stream into the future so our services continue to meet the community’s needs. It’s vital to fund the ongoing maintenance and expansion of our $5.6b asset base to ensure the long-term viability of our systems for both current and future generations.

To build a truly representative and evidence-based Price Submission, we focused on understanding what people across our diverse customer base value most. We sought to engage with often unheard voices and ensure that the needs of future generations were always considered. We co-designed an engagement approach with our Board, staff, stakeholders, regulators and external critical friends. This new approach allowed us to unpack what effective engagement would look like for all stakeholders, unearthing contextual and emerging issues, and identifying the voices that needed to be heard - all leading to the subsequent and final step of a representative 40-member Citizens' Jury. This year, an Aboriginal Community Working Group shared with the Jury their perspectives on Caring for Country, building understanding of what it means to deliver water and sewerage services on Country. This had a powerful impact, resulting in the Citizens' Jury recommending that Caring for Country is a key priority and is considered in all our decision making.

The Jury also identified six key customer commitment areas:

• Safe and pleasant drinking water • Reliable water and sewerage services • Timely service response and repair • Service that meets everyone's needs • Saving water for the future • Looking after the natural environment

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2

2021-22 HIGHLIGHTS

22 2021-22 HIGHLIGHTS

Helping communities thrive

We are planning for long-term water security now to protect supplies for the future. We’re manufacturing more water and expanding our recycled water network to support population growth. We're also partnering to deliver projects that use sustainable water to ensure Melbourne is a lush blue-green city where communities can thrive.

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Key initiatives

Water Security

Climate change, population growth and weather variability continue to put pressure on our network and the availability of water. Relying on rainfall and dams is no longer enough to secure long-term supplies. Desalinated water now makes a critical contribution to the state’s water security. In 2021-22 the Victorian Desalination Project delivered 125 billion litres of water into storages.

We’re continuing to work collaboratively with the other metropolitan water corporations to develop a joint Greater Melbourne Urban Water and System Strategy. Known as Water for Life, this strategy will outline plans for securing water supplies over the next 50 years, including specific actions for the next five years. We’re engaging with Traditional Owners/Custodians, the Aboriginal and broader community and stakeholders to provide input into this important work. The draft strategy was released for public comment in June 2022 and work is due to be completed by the end of 2022.

In 2021-22 the Victorian Desalination Project delivered

125 billion

litres of water into storages

Climate Resilience Plan

In 2021-22 we completed a review of our Climate Resilience Plan to renew our perspective of the biggest climate challenges and risks and capture actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. This Plan has undergone an external audit which found us “well placed to manage and embed climate change risks across the organisation” and having a “mature” approach to climate risk management.

We successfully piloted adaptive planning in a number of projects in the Northern Growth Corridor, including planning for the potential to treat stormwater at our recycled water plants. We also focused on reducing service vulnerabilities, developing our partnership with the Bureau of Meteorology, and holding climate outlook workshops each quarter to help prepare resources for the following three months. We continue to review emergency management plans with a climate lens. In learning from recent extreme weather events, we’re strengthening our ability to plan for and respond to these challenges. We’re incorporating findings from a vulnerability assessment in our risk assessment and renewals programs and testing future construction projects against more extreme weather patterns. We also continued working in partnership with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and the other water authorities on the Victorian Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan, extensive long-term water planning and other industry collaborations.

Recycled Water

Developing recycled water infrastructure is crucial to long-term water security, taking pressure off precious drinking water supplies. Our recycled water network now services 41,000 homes and businesses, mostly in Melbourne’s northern growth corridor, and continues to expand. Class A recycled water can be used for a variety of non-drinking water purposes such as flushing toilets and car washing. We’ve started planning and designing to increase capacity at our Aurora recycled water treatment facility, which will create a 10 megalitre a day recycled water facility at the site. This will provide a significant increase in recycled water production capacity for this important growth area. This project is in its early phases and is expected to be commissioned in approximately four years.

Through integrated growth planning, working with the Victorian Planning Authority and other stakeholders, we’ve also secured a site for a new recycled water treatment facility at Wollert. This critical piece of infrastructure will ultimately enable us to supply recycled water to more than 100,000 customers as per the Integrated Water Management strategy.

We’ve advanced plans to build an underground water recycling facility in Doncaster. Applications for planning and environmental approvals have now been submitted to relevant authorities. The facility is critical to enabling developers to meet Manningham Council’s environmentally sensitive development requirements and will supply Class A recycled water to about 6000 apartments and houses in and around Doncaster Hill. It will also supply water to irrigate and drought-proof local parks and reserves. We’re continuously engaging with the community to keep people informed as the project progresses.

2021-22 HIGHLIGHTS

Helping communities thrive continued...

Non-revenue water

In 2021-22 the amount of non-revenue water (NRW) was estimated to be 12.3GL – the second lowest on record (equating to 7.7% of total usage). Our focus on active leak detection and drainage monitoring, main renewals, creation of district metering zones and the use of intelligent network technologies have all helped to minimise NRW (water lost between the source and customer properties mainly through leaks and bursts). We now monitor 26 per cent of our water supply network in real-time allowing us to investigate and repair leaks faster. A recent benchmarking study conducted by Isle Utilities confirmed that our recent NRW performance is world-class, and we’re recognised as one of the top performers across the global water industry. We’ve also engaged a new field contractor for our Active Leak Detection program which is yielding great results finding leaks in locations which are not currently monitored.

Water conservation

Water use has decreased significantly in recent years - from 233 litres in 2018-19 to 219 litres per day in 2021-22. We didn’t quite meet our target for water conservation this year (219 litres of water per person per day against a target of 211) but will continue to strive to support a secure water future for our community.

Initiatives in 2021-22 to support water conservation included:

• Delivering the Make Every Drop Count water conservation campaign in collaboration with

Melbourne's other metropolitan water corporations to help people take personal steps to save water and support the Victorian Government’s overarching

Target 155 objective. A campaign analysis is yet to be completed, but initial expectations are for it to reach over 75 per cent of Melburnians. • Continuing to pilot a showerhead exchange program, with more than 750 water-efficient showerheads now provided to customers. • Inducting 25 new schools into the School Water

Efficiency Program (SWEP), bringing the total number of participating schools to over 330. • Our Water Watchers education program - which was a finalist in the Banksia Sustainability Awards this year – with more than 100 incursions now delivered in schools.

• Re-launching our ‘Shower Shorter’ campaign to encourage customers to reduce their average shower time to four minutes. • Providing recycled water to 41,000 properties, with significant investment across the recycled water network and treatment plants to increase reliability and production of recycled water. • Producing 377 million litres of recycled water for use by councils on public gardens and sporting ovals and for non-drinking purposes at homes. • Extending our recycled water main network to almost 700km.

• Conducting approximately 12,910 recycled water audits at customer properties, enabling greater use of recycled water in gardens, laundries and toilets.

We also offer water audits through our Community Housing Retrofit Program (CHRP) to support people who need help to gain greater control over their bills by fixing leaks or inefficient appliances. The CHRP program, which we administer on behalf of Melbourne’s water corporations, targets emergency and community housing across Melbourne. This program has been very well received with more than 100 households assisted in 2021-22. Providing recycled water to

41,000

properties

Inclusion and Connection

We are committed to ensuring all our customers can access our essential services. This means embedding inclusion and accessibility into service design and delivery and raising awareness of our support services. We’ve taken steps in 2021-22 to improve the inclusiveness and accessibility of our services. These include:

• Conducting dedicated qualitative research to understand what accessible and inclusive water and sewerage services means to different customers, and the impact of inaccessibility. This included interviews with people with a disability, people with lower English literacy, LGBTIQ+ people and young people, to help us better understand barriers they face engaging with service providers. • Ensuring that our refreshed brand is accessible, including embedding plain English and developing an inclusive language guide. • Developing an implementation framework to embed gender impact assessments in the design and delivery of our services, programs and policies. This is in line with our obligations under the Gender Equality Act 2020 and will help to ensure we embed inclusion into the way we work. • Supporting the national Pride in Water network, which aims to create a more inclusive water industry for

LGBTIQ+ staff, contractors, customers and our broader community. This also helps to build our profile as an inclusive organisation. Our staff members instigated the Pride in Water Network. • Continuing to build and strengthen partnerships with community organisations to understand the diverse and evolving needs of our customers, including the barriers that limit access to support services. This includes sharing information about programs such as

WaterCare, and keeping abreast of the issues driving vulnerability in our community, which also ensures our policies and practice continue to meet the needs of our community. • Developing a community wellness program pilot with the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research

Centre as part of our WaterCare awareness campaign.

This enabled us to deliver messages about Watercare to people at a difficult and stressful time, which can be a trigger for financial vulnerability. Together, we distributed WaterCare wellness packs to some of the 10,000 Yarra Valley Water customers diagnosed with cancer each year. • Ongoing Aboriginal cultural awareness training for all staff, including customer-facing teams in a mix of online and face-to-face formats, as well as participating in external community events.

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Reconciliation

We are working on the implementation of our Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) to achieve our vision that all who live on this land acknowledge our shared history and move forward, together, in a respectful way. Our Stretch RAP includes training, employment and procurement targets and actions to ensure Traditional Owners/Custodians are actively involved in planning and managing water resources.

Strengthening ties with Traditional Owners/Custodians and Aboriginal communities is a key focus. We have continued to work together on two-way capability building. This includes developing partnership agreements with Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and working with them and our partners in relation to cultural heritage, significantly strengthening how we approach these works and understand their value, including a repatriation policy. We’ll also expand engagement with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses, building trust and connection to support economic opportunities and enable prosperity.

We continue to work towards putting in place a culturally safe work environment that promotes the structural inclusion of Aboriginal people in the water industry through training opportunities, employment, support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses and working in partnership with Traditional

2021-22 HIGHLIGHTS

Helping communities thrive continued...

Owners/Custodians to plan and manage land and water. We celebrated Reconciliation Week with a range of events and activities, including planting the Sea of Hands at the front of our Mitcham office in a show of support for reconciliation, rights and respect.

Although we were limited in opportunities for in-person engagement during COVID-19 restrictions, we still provided a range of formal and informal cultural learning opportunities, through face-to-face and online Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Training and activities such as site visits. Our Finance and Corporate Services Group took part in a tailored Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Training session in person and a learning pilot session to increase the group’s contribution to our reconciliation journey. It involved a workshop to develop a plan of activities and a survey to understand a base line of where the group was at in its reconciliation journey. The group plans to undertake this reconciliation survey and workshop at the beginning of each financial year to set activities for the forthcoming year. The survey results will establish a trend line to track how the group progresses and measure the impacts.

In 2021-22 we worked with Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung across a range of projects, including three artefact reburials. This involved the return of artefacts unearthed during major project works. Information signs will be installed near the sites to tell the story of the artefacts that were uncovered during our work in different areas and their connection to the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung. During work to expand the sewer system in Donvale more than 2,700 stone artefacts were discovered. We joined Elders at a ceremony at Whitefriars College in Donvale where some of these artefacts were presented to the school to form part of a display showcasing the significance of the area. Elders see the display as an important opportunity to educate students about local Aboriginal cultural heritage and history. Information regarding significant stony rises on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country during excavation for the Lockerbie Main Sewer project was presented at the Victorian Archaeological Colloquium in 2022.

We’re strengthening our partnership with Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place, planning to provide them with temporary accommodation at our Mitcham head office while their East Ringwood base is being renovated. This will create more exciting opportunities for engagement and connection.

Integrated Water Management

We are implementing a rigorous process for place-based partnerships to develop integrated water management plans across our service area. Integrated Water Management (IWM) helps the water sector, local councils, government and community work together to better plan, manage and deliver water in local areas, helping to create blue-green spaces, urban cooling and water sensitive cities. Critical to this process is partnering with Traditional Owners/Custodians to recognise and support Aboriginal cultural values and economic inclusion in relation to Caring for Country.

We’re actively involved in the collaborative industry-wide IWM forums and working groups facilitated by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. Our inputs primarily relate to the Yarra (the Birrarung) and, to a lesser extent, the Maribyrnong and Dandenong catchments.

Our key commitments in the Yarra, Maribyrnong and Dandenong catchment areas are: • Upper Merri Creek IWM sub-catchment plan development • Doncaster Hill water recycling project • Improving sanitation through onsite wastewater management • Wallan restorative project • Community farm initiative

In 2021-22, we have drawn on the experience of piloting IWM sub-catchment planning in the Upper Merri Creek to inform our ongoing engagement in the industry-wide IWM forums and other IWM initiatives. The forums have collaboratively developed Catchment Scale Plans with measures and targets to progress towards a more water sensitive city.

By participating in the IWM forums, we’ve broadened the benefits of the Upper Merri Creek sub-catchment IWM planning work to inform and influence IWM planning across Victoria. The collaboration in the Upper Merri Creek sub-catchment also involves the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation, the cities of Hume and Whittlesea, Mitchell Shire Council, Melbourne Water and the Victorian Planning Authority and has included the community in the visioning for how their local areas will evolve. We’re also partnering in the delivery of other priority projects including: • Monbulk Community Sewerage Program • Collaborative waterway quality monitoring programs (understanding pathogen and toxicant impacts and sources to support evidence-based decision making) • Tarralla Creek Water Park, including advice and input from Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place

Aboriginal Community members • LaTrobe and Monash National Employment Clusters’

Water Sensitive City Visioning • Moonee Ponds Creek Channel Naturalisation and modelling improvements via partnership in the Chain of Ponds Group (the Moonee Ponds Creek IWM sub-catchment committee) • Water4Good, investigating harvesting and infiltration options for stormwater management in the Yarra

Ranges • Edgars Creek Catchment Collaboration, improving the quality of Edwardes Lake through IWM • Moreland Sub-catchment IWM, creating a local sub-catchment plan for Moreland City Council

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Mutual Aid

In 2022 we provided on the ground mutual aid support to flood-stricken parts of the country. This involved sending treatment plant operators to Tweed Shire Council and Richmond Valley Council to help with recovery after floods devastated parts of Queensland and New South Wales. Our staff had a vital role helping to get the Murwillumbah and Casino sewage treatment plants back into operation after they were inundated with flood water. It was the first time we deployed staff across state borders, and we’ve built a model to enable timely support with safety, personnel and risk management systems in place.

Wollert Community Farm

Plans are progressing to develop a community farm at our Aurora Treatment Plant, in partnership with the City of Whittlesea, Melbourne Polytechnic and Whittlesea Community Connections. Our shared vision is to create a farming enterprise and community food hub which uses best practice sustainable agriculture and land management, provides pathways to employment and demonstrates the circular economy in action. The City of Whittlesea has approved a planning permit for the project and the first stage of construction will start later in 2022. We’re also working with the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation to finalise a cultural values study on the site, which will include a recommendation for cultural burning and land management practices to return to the site. In parallel, the Wurundjeri Narrap Rangers Land, Water and Fire Natural Resource Management team have led the creation of a restoration trial plan for endangered grasslands on the site, with work commencing in July 2022.

Hazelwynde

We are continuing to explore the potential of Hazelwynde to create a water-efficient community in Beveridge, in Melbourne’s north. Our aim is to help establish a sustainable, water efficient community that meets all its own water needs through leading edge water management, taking pressure off Melbourne’s water supplies. Treating the precinct as a water catchment in its own right could deliver a cooler summer climate, mitigating the effects of extreme heat on human health and the local environment. This will be achieved by using sustainable water sources to support greening of the precinct and retaining water in the urban landscape.