Victoria Water Restrictions 2026

Melbourne Water manages bulk water supply, storage, and distribution to the four Melbourne retailers but does not sell water directly to customers. Instead, it operates the dam catchments and treatment plants that feed the retail corporations.

City West Water serves Melbourne's inner west and north-west suburbs; Yarra Valley Water covers the north and east; South East Water covers the south-east; and Greater Western Water serves the outer western growth corridor and connected regional areas. Each retailer sets its own restriction stage in line with Melbourne Water bulk storage guidance.

Regional Victoria is served by Barwon Water (Geelong and the Bellarine), Coliban Water (Bendigo and north-central Victoria), Goulburn Valley Water (Shepparton and the Goulburn Valley), Gippsland Water (east), and several smaller regional corporations. Restriction stages can diverge between regions based on local dam storage.

Some Melbourne metropolitan retailers have Stage 1 restrictions active in specific service zones. Check your specific retailer's website for the current stage applicable to your address.

Regional Victoria varies — some corporations are on Stage 1, others have no active restrictions, and smaller towns on isolated supply may be on Stage 2 or 3 depending on local dam storage.

Victoria's permanent water-saving rules apply at all times regardless of declared stage: watering between 10am and 4pm is prohibited year-round, all hoses must have a trigger nozzle, and no hosing of hard surfaces except for public health or safety reasons.

Under Stage 1, residential sprinkler use is permitted on alternate days only — odd-numbered properties water on odd dates, even-numbered on even dates. Sprinklers may run between 6am–10am or 6pm–10pm. Hand-held trigger-nozzle hose watering is permitted any day within the 10am–4pm avoidance window.

All properties are permitted to water on the 31st of any month (and 29 February in leap years) regardless of property-number parity — this rule exists because the alternate-day system would otherwise leave half of all properties unable to water for two consecutive months during January/March (31 days each).

A 28-day warm-season turf establishment exemption is available between September and March on application to your retailer. New turf laid in Melbourne during this window can be watered daily for the first four weeks to establish.

Stage 2 tightens the rules further — sprinkler use is banned entirely, and watering is permitted only by trigger-nozzle hose on alternate days within the 6am–10am or 6pm–10pm windows. Filling swimming pools is prohibited without an exemption.

Stage 3 introduces a ban on all outdoor watering of lawns, even by trigger-nozzle hose. Watering of established gardens, trees, and vegetables is permitted only by hand-held bucket, watering can, or drip irrigation. Stage 3a (a variant introduced during the 2007 drought) further tightens restrictions during exceptional shortage.

Higher stages have not been activated in Melbourne since the Millennium Drought ended in 2009. The four-stage framework is designed so that Stage 1 handles mild-to-moderate drought while preserving reasonable garden maintenance, escalating only when reservoir storage drops significantly.

Victoria has permanent water-saving rules in force at all times regardless of declared stage:

No watering between 10am and 4pm at any time of year. Trigger-nozzle hoses are mandatory for any hose-based watering. Hosing of hard surfaces (paths, driveways, windows, walls) is prohibited except in narrow circumstances — public health or safety reasons, or preparing surfaces for paint or repair work. Hoses left running unattended are specifically prohibited.

These permanent rules apply even when no numbered stage is active, and are the baseline that Stage 1 builds on.

Couch and Buffalo are the best warm-season choices for Melbourne under Stage 1 because both handle deep-but-infrequent watering well. Apply roughly 12 mm per session on your allowed days, targeting the root zone rather than the leaf canopy. Raised mowing height (40–50 mm on Buffalo, 25 mm on Couch) further reduces evaporation.

Melbourne's deep clay soils across the eastern and northern suburbs hold water exceptionally well once the surface wets through, so each Stage 1 watering session can sustain the lawn for three to four days in spring and autumn. Summer heat spikes above 35°C stress the system — raise mowing height and accept some visible browning rather than chasing more water than the stage allows.

Tall Fescue lawns in bayside and eastern suburbs struggle under Stage 1 because Fescue cannot go dormant to survive drought. Keep Fescue at 50–60 mm and accept that some Fescue lawns simply will not survive a full summer on a Stage 1 allocation; plan for Couch or Buffalo overseeding in autumn.