Lakes and reservoirs of Melbourne

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[edit]

Albert Park Lake — Albert Park
Aura Vale Lake — Menzies Creek
Berwick Springs Lake — Narre Warren South
Blackburn Lake — Blackburn
Braeside Park and Woodlands Wetlands — Braeside
Caribbean Lake — Scoresby
Carrum Carrum Swamp (former) — southeastern suburbs
Cherry Lake — Altona
Edithvale Wetlands — Aspendale and Chelsea Heights
Jells Lake — Wheelers Hill
Karkarook Lake — Heatherton
Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp (former) — outer southeastern suburbs
La Trobe University Lakes — Bundoora
- Main Lake
- Small Lake
- Upper Lakes
- Springthorpe Lake
- Sports Fields Lake
Lillydale Lake — Lilydale
Lysterfield Lake — Lysterfield
Patterson Lakes — Patterson Lakes
- Schooner Bay
- Barellan Harbours
- Lake Carramar
- Lake Illawong
- Lake Legana
RAAF Lake — Point Cook
Sanctuary Lakes — Point Cook
Waterways Lake and Lagoons — Waterways

Small lakes, ponds & wetlands[edit]

Anniversary Lake — Berwick
Banjo Paterson Lake — Lynbrook
Blue Lake — Plenty
Burndap Lakes — Maribyrnong
Bushy Park Wetlands — Glen Waverley
Cairnlea Lake — Cairnlea
Casey Fields Lake — Cranbourne East
Caulfield Racecourse Lake — Caulfield
Clarendon Lake — Keysborough
Coburg Lake — Merri Creek at Coburg North
Dandenong Wetlands — Dandenong
Edwardes Lake — Reservoir
Ferntree Gully Quarry Lake — Ferntree Gully
Glen Iris Wetlands — Glen Iris
Hallam Bypass Retarding Basin & Wetlands, Narre Warren
Hays Paddock Billabong — Kew East
Hull Road Wetlands — Lilydale
Jack Roper Reserve lake — Merlynston Creek at Broadmeadows
Iramoo Lake — Cairnlea
Jack Roper Reserve (CSL) Retarding Basin — Glenroy
Kalparrin Lake — Greensborough
Katoomba Lake — Wantirna
Kew Billabong — Kew East
Lake Mcivor — Roxburgh Park
Lakewood Nature Reserve — Knoxfield
Lake Treganowan (Emerald Lake) — Emerald
Liverpool Road Retarding Basin — Boronia
McAlpin Lake — Ringwood North
Newport Lakes — Newport
- North Lake
- South Lake
Oakwood Park Ponds — Noble Park North
Pakenham Lake — Pakenham
Polishing Ponds — Niddrie
Princess Freeway Retarding Basin — Narre Warren North
Queens Park Lake — Moonee Ponds
Ringwood Lake — Ringwood
River Gum Creek Reserve Wetlands — Hampton Park
Rowville Lakes — Rowville
- Cogley Lake
- Sutton Lake
- Hill Lake
Royal Botanic Gardens Lakes — Melbourne CBD
- Ornamental Lake
- Central Lake
- Nymphaea Lily Lake
Sandown Park Lake — Springvale
Spectacle Lake — Point Cook
Springvale Botanical Cemetery Lake — Springvale
Stamford Park Lake — Rowville
Tatterson Park Ponds — Keysborough
Taylors Lakes — Taylors Lakes
Tirhatuan Wetlands — Rowville and Dandenong North
Valley Lake - Niddrie
Waterford Valley Lakes — Rowville
Waverley Park Lake — Mulgrave
West Gate Lakes — Port Melbourne

Major storage reservoirs[edit]

Cardinia Reservoir, Emerald — 287,000 megalitres (6.3×10¹⁰ imp gal; 7.6×10¹⁰ US gal)
Devilbend Reservoir, Tuerong — 14,600 megalitres (3.2×10⁹ imp gal; 3.9×10⁹ US gal)
Greenvale Reservoir, Greenvale — 27,000 megalitres (5.9×10⁹ imp gal; 7.1×10⁹ US gal)
Maroondah Reservoir, Healesville — 22,000 megalitres (4.8×10⁹ imp gal; 5.8×10⁹ US gal)
O'Shannassy Reservoir, McMahons Creek — 3,000 megalitres (660,000,000 imp gal; 790,000,000 US gal)
Silvan Reservoir, Silvan — 40,000 megalitres (8.8×10⁹ imp gal; 1.1×10¹⁰ US gal)
Sugarloaf Reservoir, Christmas Hills — 96,000 megalitres (2.1×10¹⁰ imp gal; 2.5×10¹⁰ US gal)
Tarago Reservoir, Neerim South — 37,580 megalitres (8.27×10⁹ imp gal; 9.93×10⁹ US gal)
Thomson River Dam, Thomson — 1,068,000 megalitres (2.35×10¹¹ imp gal; 2.82×10¹¹ US gal)
Upper Yarra Reservoir, Reefton — 200,000 megalitres (4.4×10¹⁰ imp gal; 5.3×10¹⁰ US gal)
Yan Yean Reservoir, Yan Yean — 30,000 megalitres (6.6×10⁹ imp gal; 7.9×10⁹ US gal)