Melbourne Water is a Victorian Government-owned statutory authority that controls and manages much of the water bodies and supplies in metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, including the reservoirs, lakes, wetlands, canals and urban creeks, and the sewerage and drainage systems that services the city. Melbourne Water was formed by the merger of Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works and a number of smaller urban water authorities in 1992. Melbourne Water primarily operates under the Water Industry Act 1994 and the Water Act 1989. Overview Melbourne Water is wholly owned by the Victorian State Government. It manages Melbourne's water supply catchments, sewage, rivers and major drainage systems throughout the Port Phillip and Westernport region. Governance of Melbourne Water is by an independent Board of Directors in conjunction with the Minister for Water. Melbourne Water supplies water to the metropolitan retail water businesses (namely, City West Water, South East Water and Yarra Valley Water), other water authorities, local councils and the land development industry. The Victorian Water Industry Association (VicWater) is the peak industry association for water companies in Victoria. In 1994, Melbourne Parks and Waterways was separated from Melbourne Water, and became part of Parks Victoria in 1996. Victorian Desalination Plant The Victorian Desalination Plant is a A$3.1 billion desalination plant that was built in the Wonthaggi region of the Bass Coast. The plant can provide an additional 150 gigalitres of water each year. The base fee payable to the owner of the plant, even if no water is ordered, is $608 million a year, or $1.8 million per day, for 27 years. being between $18 and $19 billion in total. On 1 April each year, the Minister for Water places an order for the following financial year, up to 150 gigalitres a year, at an additional cost to Melbourne Water and consumers. Northern Sewerage Project Northern Sewerage Project is a major infrastructure project to increase the capacity of the sewerage system in Melbourne's growing northern suburbs. It will also help protect the Merri and Moonee Ponds Creeks by virtually eliminating sewage overflows that can occur after heavy rain. Water restrictions Melbourne Water has a system of restrictions to manage water supplies into the future. It reports on storage levels on Thursday each week while an interactive graph compares actual use. Further reviews of restrictions were needed to counter an ongoing drought, poor rainfall, record low storage levels and rising water use