Lorne: Water, Your Say

Barwon Water is engaging with the Lorne community to better understand local insights, priorities and values when it comes to a sustainable and resilient water future for Lorne.

We are eager to understand and support the values and priorities of residents, businesses, community groups and regular visitors and work together to plan for long-term water security, climate change mitigation, affordability, environmental preservation and any other key values that the community shares.

You can always ask a question below, send our friendly team a direct message at projects@barwonwater.vic.gov.au or call us on 1300 656 007.

Have your say on Lorne's water future

We’re seeking your thoughts and ideas on options to secure Lorne’s drinking water for the long term. Have your say via the survey by 20 January 2025.

Latest News

Lorne's water future survey

Watch the webinar

Lorne: Water, Your Say Community Webinar - About the project

Arrange a briefing

Invite us to your event

Have you got an event coming up and need to make sure people stay hydrated? Or maybe you have one of your regular meetings? Why not get in touch!

Email us

Timeline

Timeline item 1 - complete

Phase 1 | Listen and learn

June and July 2023
Timeline item 2 - complete

Phase 2 | Community focus and values

Late 2023-2024
Timeline item 3 - active

Phase 3 | Deep dive

2024-2025
Timeline item 4 - incomplete

Phase 4 | Co-create Lorne’s future

2025

Project Library

Community Working Group

Terms of Reference - Community Working Group
PDF (166.79 KB)

Fact Sheets

Strategy Documents

Frequently Asked Questions

We want the Lorne community to be part of a conversation about a sustainable and resilient water future.

With a keen interest in the popular tourism destination’s future water security, we are eager to understand and support the values and priorities of residents, businesses, community groups and regular visitors.

This project will ensure we can continue to provide high quality, affordable and secure water services for our customers and cater for future growth and population changes in the peak season.

Lorne community members and customers will be able to have their say through a variety of ways including surveys, community information sessions and pop-ups, sharing feedback in writing, by phone or by leaving a comment on our project website. We are committed to keeping the Lorne community informed and will share information on opportunities to participate and have a say.

If you have any questions about the project or would like to register for email updates, please email us at projects@barwonwater.vic.gov.au or telephone 1300 656 007.

Lorne’s drinking water is sourced exclusively from the Allen Reservoir on the St George River, about three kilometres west of the town. Allen Reservoir is surrounded by the Great Otway National Park.

Water is delivered via a pipeline to the Lorne Water Treatment Plant on Polwarth Road, where it is filtered and disinfected, before being fed to one of five tanks, across three pressure zones.

Due to the steep coastal terrain, Lorne’s water distribution network is relatively complex.

The system is seasonal, with storage levels reducing over the summer months then recovering during winter and spring.

Although annual water demand in Lorne exceeds the capacity of the Allen Reservoir, the reliable rainfall means the reservoir fills rapidly during wetter periods.

In 2018, the Allen Reservoir was raised slightly during embankment and spillway upgrades to its current capacity of 215 megalitres (ML).

We want to look at how we can maximise our opportunities and overcome some local challenges in partnership with the Lorne community, which includes planning a long-term water supply upgrade.

Here are some of the things we are doing now to prepare for our future:

Improving water efficiencies at our treatment plant
Investing in smart networks for real time data
Ongoing water and sewer pipes maintenance

Want to know more about these investments? Visit our project library.

Lorne’s steep coastal terrain makes it complex to create further water storage sites. While we have an entitlement to use up to 510 megalitres of water every year from the St George and Erskine Rivers, we only use water from the Allen Reservoir located on the St George River.

This is due to several factors, but primarily the low summer flows in the rivers means we rely on water stored in the Allen Reservoir during the cooler and wetter periods of the year to keep Lorne supplied during the drier summer period.

The Erskine River has no storage facility, so the low flows in summer - when we need them the most - prevent us from sourcing water from that system during this period. At all other times, flows from the St George River – coupled with the stored water in Allen Reservoir – is sufficient to keep Lorne supplied for the immediate future.

Lorne uses around 340 megalitres every year which is the equivalent of approximately 680 outdoor swimming pools.

There are no water restrictions in place in Lorne. All towns within Barwon Water’s service region – including Lorne – follow the Permanent Water Saving Rules all year round. These are a set of simple, common-sense rules to reduce demand and make sure we all use water wisely.

The permanent water saving rules are always in place, and are uniform across Victoria.

For more information visit our website here: https://www.barwonwater.vic.gov.au/water-and-waste/permanent-water-saving-rules

Lorne’s water supplies are secure for the immediate future. Even though storage levels are healthy today, we are seeing a long-term shift towards a hotter, drier climate making seasonal rainfall less reliable. The “Lorne: Water Your Say” project will help the community and Barwon Water plan a sustainable and resilient long term water future together.

We conduct detailed modelling to understand our water needs for the future.

Longer-term planning is based on forecasting system performance for different levels of service under a range of possible climate and population scenarios, including low rainfall and high growth. Our long-terms plans are usually based on high-risk scenarios which helps ensure we never run out of water.

We are working on minor initiatives to make the best use of our current system while we work with the community to understand preferences for long-term water security options. These projects include:

Finding efficiencies through improvements within our water treatment plant
Increasing our understanding of the impacts of manganese on our water supply
Employing technology and smart network upgrades to reduce water losses
Supporting customers to save water

We’re investing $4 million to improve the efficiency of the Lorne water treatment plant by recycling the water used on site to clean the filters. The Lorne water treatment plant currently sends backwash water to the sewer system. Through this project, we will be able to capture, treat and return this water to the head of the treatment plant to be re-used. This will provide up to an additional 25 million litres of water each year.

Manganese is a naturally occurring element which is currently limiting the use of water in storage in the Allen Reservoir when water levels are drawn down. Research will help us to understand if there are opportunities for additional treatment to reduce manganese from our drinking water. This could deliver an extra 28 million litres of usable water each year.

Smart sensors and digital technology help provide improved data in real time and allows faster detection of water leaks. Digital water meters will help detect leaks, identify high water use and provide greater control to customers over their water use – once installed we will look to partner with the residents and businesses to support the Lorne community to be more waterwise.

The smart sewer network will use new and existing data and powerful analytics to help move to a more proactive management of services in Lorne.

We have installed 14 devices in Lorne as part of Lorne Smart Sewers project. These devices have already prevented three sewer spills and reduced blockages and overflows.

We’re investing $2.5 million over the next five years across the region including Lorne, to help customers and businesses save water, and provide programs, grants and rebates. We’ll also work with tourism operators on leak detection and repair, education and advice. Barwon Water proudly partners with volunteer-led community organisations in our service region including the Lorne Surf Life Saving Club to provide essential lifesaving equipment on a rotational basis.

Here to help!

Kate Manning

Community Engagement Team Leader

Phone: 1300 656 007

Email: projects@barwonwater.vic.gov.au

Phone	1300 656 007
Email	info@barwonwater.vic.gov.au
Website	www.barwonwater.vic.gov.au
In writing	PO Box 659 Geelong, Victoria 3220

1300 656 007

info@barwonwater.vic.gov.au

www.barwonwater.vic.gov.au

PO Box 659
Geelong, Victoria 3220

Your Say Barwon Water

Lorne: Water, Your Say

Barwon Water is engaging with the Lorne community to better understand local insights, priorities and values when it comes to a sustainable and resilient water future for Lorne.

Have your say on Lorne's water future

Latest News

Latest News

Lorne's water future survey

Watch the webinar

Lorne: Water, Your Say Community Webinar - About the project

Arrange a briefing

Invite us to your event

Kate Manning

Community Engagement Team Leader

Contact Us