29 July 2025

Purpose of the DSS

The DSS funds the construction of essential stormwater and drainage assets that are necessary for land to be developed and houses to be built.

This can include things such as:

  • pipelines
  • overland flow paths
  • retarding basins
  • waterways
  • wetlands
  • sediment ponds
  • bio-retention systems
  • pollution traps
  • land set aside for these purposes.

Developers pay DSS contributions to fund the cost of the required infrastructure. Some developers are also required to construct DSS assets, for which they are reimbursed.

Melbourne Water does not profit from the schemes and the rate increases will be rolled out to ensure financial sustainability of the program.

Annual reviews conducted

Rates for DSS had not been increased for three years and there has been an under collection of funds during this period to achieve cost recovery.

It’s important to note that this delay has provided a financial benefit to developers, since contributions were lower than they should have been, but developers still received full reimbursement rates during this three-year period.

Our reviews identified that most of the 121 active schemes will require rate increases in 2025. Based on preliminary assessments, some schemes will require rate increases over two or more years to achieve cost recovery, but these are being capped at 25% a year.

Developers will have the opportunity to lock in the existing rates if they meet certain criteria.

The program going forward

Each active DSS will undergo an annual review to identify any rate adjustments that are required. Rate increases will be limited to a maximum of 25% within any 12-month period. The standard two-month notice period still applies.

The next round of annual reviews will commence from January 2026. We will also hold off on doing reviews for those schemes that had higher rate increases in 2025 until later in 2026.

This will be the approach to annual reviews going forward to provide certainty to the industry in forward planning project budgets.

We will provide more details of the 2026 reviews later this year.

We are also reviewing our DSS reimbursement processes to identify ways we can improve them.

Find out more

We will email affected developers with further information on the DSS rate increases.

At any time, you can look up your scheme rate and use our online calculator on the Melbourne Water website.

Subscribe to the page to be notified when we make updates to rates.

You can also read more about the DSS in our frequently asked questions (DOCX, 135KB).

Find out:

If you have any further questions, please email [email protected] or phone 131 722.

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