This includes research to:

• understand the current and historical health of rivers, wetlands, estuaries and bays
• identify and prioritise management actions
• set management targets and monitor investment outcomes
• support continuous improvement in management practices
• respond to emerging risks and opportunities.

Research is mostly undertaken collaboratively with universities, in partnership with other water industry stakeholders, across state, national and international levels. For example:

Research partnerships

Research partnerships are founded on a collaborative model of two-way knowledge exchange between researchers and practitioners. This occurs at all stages of research: from idea development through to changed business practices. Projects are co-designed with Melbourne Water and our stakeholders, based on strategic knowledge gaps identified (see Key Research Areas below) in the Healthy Waterways Strategy 2018-2028.

Two major waterways and wetlands research partnerships funded by Melbourne Water are:

• Melbourne Waterway Research-Practice Partnership (MWRPP), with The University of Melbourne
• Aquatic Pollution Prevention Partnership (A3P), with RMIT University.

These partnerships support:

• applied research that helps improve waterway management
• knowledge exchange that integrates research findings and broader science with Melbourne Water activities (and those of other stakeholders).

Besides these current formal partnerships, there are and have been other partnerships on a similar or smaller scale, as well as individual projects with other universities and research organisations.

Key research areas

Key research areas were identified during the development of the 10-year Healthy Waterways Strategy to support its delivery. They guided priorities for the MWRPP and A3P from 2018 to 2023, and were revised during the 2022 strategy mid-term review in the Science Inquiry (PDF, 20.27MB).

These strategic research needs are informing the next round of partnerships research projects, which began in 2023 and will run until 2028. They are also informing other types of research collaborations needed to cover a broad range of topics.

View summaries of our waterways and wetlands research projects under the themes below:

More information