We have listened closely to community values and priorities, and we will factor this into our next round of planning, to help find feasible solutions that will work for the Macedon Ranges community and environment.

This consultation phase will also help us understand if there’s any additional information the community would like from us.

Climate change will increase the impact of these challenges with Victoria becoming drier over the long-term, with more extreme events including droughts, floods and heatwaves.

Rainfall will decline. The Victorian Government predicts that by 2065, water flowing into some catchments could reduce by around 50% per year. This means less water will be available water in storages.

However, we’re also likely to see more intense storms, which can cause a range of other storage, management and demand issues.

As the Macedon Ranges grows, we will have more wastewater to treat, and more recycled water to manage.

In 2021, we treated 11.9 billion litres of sewage in the Macedon Ranges. Of this, 5.3 billion litres was used by customers, leaving us with another 6.6 billion litres to manage.

We’re looking at what we can do to upgrade our services, explore ways to find more recycled water customers, and find other sustainable solutions, to make sure we’re prepared for a range of scenarios. Your feedback will help us find solutions that will best meet the needs of the community.

If possible, it is stored on site.

Gisborne, Riddells Creek and Woodend recycled water plants have a licence from the Environmental Protection Authority to discharge excess volumes into a nearby creek under strict conditions.

The Romsey plant currently does not have an ongoing discharge licence. Typically, excess recycled water from Romsey is trucked to nearby recycled water plants (usually Riddells Creek and Gisborne).

During sustained heavy rainfall we may conduct a temporary discharge of controlled amounts of water. Where this happens, we work closely with the EPA and monitor closely for any impacts to human and environmental health.

Sustained heavy rainfall and ongoing wet weather conditions sometimes result in a significant rise in the amount of water stored at a recycled water plant.

If the plant has a discharge license, we may release controlled amounts of recycled water to a waterway. If the plant does not have an ongoing discharge licence, we will notify the EPA and undertake a necessary temporary release, monitoring closely for any impacts of this release on the environment or human health.

Discharging excess recycled water from storage helps to reduce any potential for uncontrolled overflows and protects the recycled water plant infrastructure to continue providing an essential service to the community.

There are four recycled water plants in the Macedon Ranges, each operating slightly differently. Take a look at our interactive map and find out more.

There are three classes of recycled water. Recycled water produced in the Macedon Ranges is Class B and C.

• Class C recycled water is used to irrigate cooked or processed human food crops, including wine grapes and olives. It can also be used for livestock grazing and fodder and for human food crops grown over a meter above the ground and eaten raw such as apples, pears, table grapes and cherries. It can be used by councils to maintain public parks, gardens and sports grounds.
• Class B recycled water can be used to irrigate sports fields, golf courses and dairy cattle grazing land. It can also be used for industrial wash down as well as for the uses listed for Class C.
• Class A is the highest quality of recycled water, with the widest range of uses, including some which involve direct human contact. These include clothes washing, toilet flushing, garden watering and firefighting. It can be used to irrigate food crops that eaten raw, or sold to consumers uncooked or unprocessed. Class A can also be used for any of the Class B and C uses. Class A is not subject to Permanent Water Saving Rules or water restrictions.

Find out more about recycled water.

Underground sewers carry sewage from toilets, showers, laundry sinks and kitchen sinks to a centralised wastewater treatment plant for treatment and disposal.

Your property connects to the sewer network via your house connection drain and our sewer main.