A water wonderland

By Kath Gannaway
THE YARRA Valley is awash with … what is it again … oh yes … water!
As the best September rains in nine years culminated on the weekend before last the Upper Yarra was first to experience the flow-on effects.
Roads were closed as the Yarra River burst its banks at several points between Millgrove and Launching Place where the Yarra Valley Archery Park (nicknamed by locals ‘Noah’s Park’) was under water.
Don Valley resident Sue Hoffman said the levy bank constructed some years ago at the park held back the tide, saving the buildings from damage.
In Healesville the Yarra River flats on either side of Maroondah Highway filled overnight on Monday creating a magnificent lake, an instant tourist attraction with postcard reflections of the mountains.
Graeme and Annette Hill who own the flats knew what was in store when friends at Millgrove rang and said they had recorded 71mls of rain in three days.
“That means we have three inches of their water coming through so we knew it was time to bring the cattle up, but we didn’t to expect it to rise as fast as it did,” Mrs Hill said.
Mr Hill was quick to say he was not complaining about the rain, but gee, the timing was interesting.
He had just spread super, hoping for a good summer hay crop.
He can see how others would look at it and marvel at the spectacle.
“I probably wouldn’t look at it and say ‘Isn’t it pretty?’, not when you see $1000 worth of fertiliser going down the river,” he said.
From the Hills’ point of view if the lake doesn’t linger too long, there is still a chance of a decent hay crop, and it’s nature’s way. “We need the rain, and you get a bit of fertiliser in terms of silt, and the flats need a drink every now and then ….” Mr Hill said philosophically.
And, another good thing – John Woodland, manager water supply with Melbourne Water, said the company is putting the downfall to good use by getting it pumped as fast as possible into Sugarloaf Reservoir.
“We have four large pumps at Yering Gorge which we use to extract water from the Yarra and put into storage for Melbourne,” he said.
Mr Woodland said the last time the Yarra Flats flooded was in November 2004.
“These flows are very welcome from both a river point of view and a water supply point of view,” he said.