Melbourne’s storages are 70.0% full (1,269 GL of 1,812 GL), up 0.1 points in a week; a year ago the same storages were 73.2% full.
10 storages reporting to the Bureau of Meteorology, latest reading 2026-09-27 08:00. Refreshed every 30 minutes.
Every reservoir that Melbourne Water counts in the city’s storage total has a row here, taken from the Bureau of Meteorology, with the latest volume, percentage, level and change over seven days. The notes below cover how the total is worked out, how much of it the Thomson carries, what the desalination plant adds, where restrictions stand and the one reservoir where you can cast a line.
Percentage full is the Bureau’s accessible volume divided by the accessible capacity, as on its storage dashboard, so it can differ by a point or two from the operator’s daily report, which is the official figure. Year ago is the same storage on the same date last year. Dams with a fishing page link to it.
| Storage | Full | Volume (ML) | Capacity (ML) | 7 days | Year ago | Updated | Fishing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomson ReservoirMelbourne water supply (Melbourne Water) | 67.7% | 723,087 | 1,068,000 | −0.4 pts | 75.6% | 27 Sept | No public fishing |
| Cardinia ReservoirMelbourne water supply (Melbourne Water) | 64.3% | 184,501 | 286,911 | +0.1 pts | 69.6% | 27 Sept | No public fishing |
| Upper Yarra ReservoirMelbourne water supply (Melbourne Water) | 68.4% | 137,111 | 200,579 | +2.0 pts | 63.9% | 27 Sept | No public fishing |
| Sugarloaf ReservoirMelbourne water supply (Melbourne Water) | 83.0% | 79,872 | 96,253 | +0.2 pts | 65.4% | 27 Sept | Sugarloaf Reservoir fishing report |
| Silvan ReservoirMelbourne water supply (Melbourne Water) | 88.8% | 35,897 | 40,445 | +0.5 pts | 87.2% | 27 Sept | No public fishing |
| Tarago ReservoirMelbourne water supply (Melbourne Water) | 97.7% | 36,704 | 37,576 | +1.2 pts | 88.8% | 27 Sept | No public fishing |
| Yan Yean ReservoirMelbourne water supply (Melbourne Water) | 73.6% | 22,288 | 30,266 | 0.0 pts | 69.5% | 27 Sept | No public fishing |
| Greenvale ReservoirMelbourne water supply (Melbourne Water) | 92.7% | 24,891 | 26,839 | +0.9 pts | 84.0% | 27 Sept | No public fishing |
| Maroondah ReservoirMelbourne water supply (Melbourne Water) | 99.7% | 22,119 | 22,179 | +0.4 pts | 60.0% | 27 Sept | No public fishing |
| O'Shannassy ReservoirMelbourne water supply (Melbourne Water) | 83.9% | 2,619 | 3,123 | −5.5 pts | 101.9% | 27 Sept | No public fishing |
Among storages of 5 GL or more.
90% and over60–90%30–60%under 30%no capacity published
Combined accessible volume of the 10 storages with a published capacity, as a percentage of their combined capacity, one value a day.
Melbourne Water’s storage figure is the combined volume of ten reservoirs, Cardinia, Greenvale, Maroondah, O’Shannassy, Silvan, Sugarloaf, Tarago, Thomson, Upper Yarra and Yan Yean, measured against their combined capacity of 1,812,175 megalitres. That capacity dates from 1 July 2010, when Melbourne Water aligned its reporting with the Bureau of Meteorology; before then most reservoirs were reported to the nearest 1,000 megalitres. The denominator has shifted many times since Upper Yarra came online in 1957: Greenvale, Cardinia, Sugarloaf and the Thomson were added, Tarago was taken offline in 1999 and reconnected in 2009 after an upgrade, and in 2012 the Sugarloaf Pipeline allocation, water held in Lake Eildon on Melbourne’s behalf, was removed. A percentage from the 1970s or 1990s is therefore not directly comparable with one from today. Day-to-day changes come from the inflows to every reservoir set against total water use, which covers consumption, releases to the environment and water held for Southern Rural Water. A falling row is not always dry weather either, because Melbourne Water moves water between connected reservoirs and may hold a level down while a dam is maintained.
On the Bureau’s accessible capacities, the Thomson holds 1,068,000 of the system’s megalitres, close to three-fifths, and with Cardinia and Upper Yarra it accounts for about 86 per cent. A one-point change on the Thomson row is about 10,700 megalitres, more than three times the whole of O’Shannassy. The Thomson was built as the system’s reserve, filling in wet years for use in dry ones; its 165-metre earth and rockfill dam was completed in 1984, and it can transfer more than a billion litres a day to Upper Yarra, which feeds Silvan, from where water is distributed across the city. During the Millennium Drought it fell from full to 16 per cent by mid-2009, and in the wet years of 2010 and 2011 Melbourne Water kept it out of supply so it could refill. It also releases water to keep the Thomson River flowing, to supply the Macalister Irrigation District downstream and to generate hydroelectricity.
The Victorian Desalination Plant can deliver up to 150 billion litres a year, which Melbourne Water puts at one-third of the city’s needs. The Minister for Water places the order with the plant’s operator on 1 April each year, and on 7 April 2026 the Minister announced an order of 150 gigalitres for 2026–27. With the 2025–26 order complete, the plant had produced 505 gigalitres since 2017. Desalinated water enters the supply network at Cardinia Reservoir, where it mixes with catchment water from Silvan, so part of any rise in Cardinia’s row can be desalinated water rather than rain, and Melbourne Water publishes the daily desalination contribution beside its storage data. A second outside source is the 70-kilometre North–South Pipeline, which can carry Goulburn River water to Melbourne in times of critical human need; when it runs, Sugarloaf Reservoir can take up to 75 billion litres a year from it.
Melbourne Water reads its reservoirs at 8 am and publishes the day’s figures in the afternoon, and its weekly totals for rainfall and inflow run to 8 am on Thursday; verified rainfall and inflow are given only for the four storages that contribute most. The table here takes the Bureau’s accessible-volume record, but the Bureau’s supplier notes say Melbourne Water caps the per cent full it reports at 100, while the Bureau lets a storage’s figure go higher when it overflows, so a reservoir above 100 per cent here may read 100 on Melbourne Water’s site. The Bureau also lists an eleventh storage under Melbourne Water: Devilbend Reservoir on the Mornington Peninsula. Melbourne Water’s capacity history records Devilbend as decommissioned in 2002, so it plays no part in the city total. For longer comparisons, Melbourne Water’s historical data gives monthly storage levels back to 1948.
Melbourne Water states that water restrictions are not currently in place for Melbourne, and that this can change with storage levels and forecast use. Permanent water saving rules have applied since 2011 whether or not restrictions are in force: gardens on a watering system may be watered only between 6 pm and 10 am, hoses need a trigger nozzle, hard surfaces may not be hosed down except in listed cases, and fountains must recirculate. Target 150 is a voluntary aim of no more than 150 litres per person per day, against an average that Melbourne Water puts at around 163 litres. The last restrictions ended on 1 December 2012, after a run that began with Stage 1 in September 2006 and reached Stage 3a in April 2007. Inflows shape the longer view: the average into Melbourne’s storages fell from 615 gigalitres a year over 1913–96 to 376 during the Millennium Drought of 1997–2009, and it was 427 over 1997–2020, while Melbourne Water expects nearly 6 million people to need water every day by 2030.
Sugarloaf is the one reservoir of the ten where Melbourne Water allows fishing. It is an off-stream storage in the Christmas Hills, filled from the Yarra River and the Maroondah Aqueduct, and its water is treated at the nearby Winneke plant, which supplies about a quarter of Melbourne’s drinking water. Parks Victoria’s Sugarloaf Reservoir Park, off Simpson Road, opens from 8.30 am to 5 pm, or to 7 pm in daylight saving, and shoreline fishing is allowed only in the designated areas during those hours. Parks Victoria names golden perch, redfin and European carp as the fish, and asks anglers to use only lures or artificial bait, with no worms, maggots or bait fish, and not to wade, use burley or clean fish in the reservoir. Canoes, kayaks and sailboards are not permitted, craft launch only through the Sugarloaf Sailing and Boating Club, and dogs are not allowed in the park. A Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence is required. None of Melbourne Water’s pages for the other nine reservoirs lists fishing, and at the Thomson the inner catchment is closed, with offenders liable to prosecution under the Water Act 1989. Devilbend, the decommissioned reservoir, is now a Parks Victoria reserve whose fishing zones are stocked with trout, both rainbow and brown, and with estuary perch.
The Thomson Reservoir row shows the Bureau of Meteorology’s latest volume, per cent full and water level for the dam, measured against an accessible capacity of 1,068,000 megalitres. Melbourne Water reads its storages at 8 am, so the figure describes that morning or an earlier day, and each percentage point on the Thomson is about 10,700 megalitres.
The table lists the ten reservoirs in Melbourne Water’s total, each from the Bureau’s record, and Melbourne Water’s water storage levels page publishes the combined percentage every afternoon. Because the Thomson is close to three-fifths of the capacity, its row moves the total more than any other.
It depends on the yearly order. The plant can supply up to 150 gigalitres a year, and the order for 2026–27 is 150 gigalitres; the water enters through Cardinia Reservoir, and Melbourne Water publishes the daily contribution.
Not at present, according to Melbourne Water, which last lifted restrictions on 1 December 2012. Permanent water saving rules still apply, including the 6 pm to 10 am window for watering systems.
Yes, from the shore in the designated areas of Parks Victoria’s Sugarloaf Reservoir Park during opening hours, with lures or artificial bait only and a Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence. Melbourne Water lists no fishing at the other nine reservoirs in the city’s total.
Data: Bureau of Meteorology, Water Data Online and the Australian Water Storages dataset, © Commonwealth of Australia, CC BY; volumes supplied by © Melbourne Water. Where the Bureau lists no capacity, or its capacity and volume are on different bases, a row shows the volume only. Text by Pablo Ruiz Quintero.
The facts on this page were checked against these pages, from the agencies, park services and operators that manage the water on 28 September 2026; anything we could not verify was taken out. Written by Pablo Ruiz Quintero. Errors are published in the verification log.