Jells Lake in Wheelers Hill, one of the wetland lakes of Dandenong Valley Parklands
Albert Park Lake, surrounded by the Grand Prix racetrack

Melbourne is the capital city of southeastern Australian state of Victoria and also the nation's second most populous city, and has been consistently voted one of the most liveable cities in the world. Located on the northern/eastern coastal plains of Port Phillip Bay, the city is one of the drier capital cities in Australia (with an annual rainfall only half of Sydney's), but due to its relatively flat terrain and the runoffs fed from surrounding highlands, still has many lakes, ponds and wetlands, mainly managed by Melbourne Water and Parks Victoria. The larger waterbodies are used for water sports, mostly boating (especially sailing, rowing, canoeing and kayaking) but some are used for recreational activities like swimming, water skiing or model boating.

Melbourne also has a number of major artificial lakes as storage reservoirs that supply the city's drinking water, as well as many smaller service reservoirs or retention ponds used either for stormwater management or as auxiliary water storage for drinking supply or agricultural usage during dry seasons. Some of the smaller lakes and ponds are used as wildlife sanctuaries and as parklands for community pastimes such as angling and birdwatching.

The Yarra River, the main urban river of Melbourne, hosts many small wetlands and billabongs particularly through its middle reaches in the Yarra Valley, many of which are not named and are not included here. This article does not include lakes and reservoirs outside of the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area, for information on other lakes in Victoria see the List of reservoirs and dams in Australia.

Major lakes

Caribbean Lake, Scoresby
Blackburn Lake

Small lakes, ponds & wetlands

Dandenong Wetlands
Edwardes Lake, Reservoir

Major storage reservoirs

Maroondah Reservoir

Small service reservoirs


Further reading

Viggers, James I.; Weaver, Haylee J.; Lindenmayer, David B. (2013). Melbourne's Water Catchments. Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing. ISBN 9781486300068.

See also

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