Swimmable Birrarung

the vision

Imagine diving from the banks of the Birrarung/Yarra River into clean waters during your lunch break. Imagine warm afternoons spent swimming with friends in the shadow of the CBD skyline, and weekends swimming laps of the river.

The Swimmable Birrarung initiative is a transformative and critical infrastructure project for our city. Its vision is to regenerate the Birrarung Yarra River to the extent that it is healthy, thriving and swimmable again, from source to sea.

Of course, making the Birrarung swimmable again is about so much more than just swimming. More than 70% of our drinking water comes from this river catchment. As the Woi-wurrung language name for the Yarra Strategic Plan says, Burndap Birrarung burndap umarkoo: “good for Yarra is good for all”. We need to reorient our city to recognise our main waterway as a living entity, as a place inextricably linked to our health and biodiversity.

To achieve this ambitious goal of a healthy, thriving, swimmable Birrarung Yarra River, we need a coherent and systemic response from diverse actors and stakeholders. This includes government, business, civil society and community. The role of the Swimmable Birrarung initiative is to build the coherence and momentum required to take this ambition from impossible to inevitable.

Collaboration Partners

We have been working with a vast array of partners who have engaged in different ways from sensemaking, to active partnership on projects and initiatives, to multiple walks along the Birrarung sharing stories of our memories and ambitions for this beloved waterway.

Adams Urban

Arup

Arbory Afloat

Birrarung Council

City of Melbourne

ClimateKic

Cummins and Partners

D2k Information

Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action (DEECA)

Envirobank

Good and Proper

Green Planet Sport

Hart Biodiversity

Hatch

Hello Atoll

Life Saving Victoria

Manningham City Council

Melbourne Water

Minters Elison

Monash University

NGV

Parramatta River Catchment Group

Patagonia

Ponyfish Island

Regeneration Projects

Studio Esem

The Royal Society of Victoria

The Taboo Group

Tract Design

University of Melbourne

Wowowa

Yarra Pools

Yarra Riverkeeper Association

Yarra Valley Water

Dream it

Adams Urban Arup Arbory Afloat Birrarung Council City of Melbourne ClimateKic Cummins and Partners D2k Information Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action (DEECA) Envirobank Good and Proper Green Planet Sport Hart Biodiversity Hatch Hello Atoll Life Saving Victoria Manningham City Council Melbourne Water Minters Elison Monash University NGV Parramatta River Catchment Group Patagonia Ponyfish Island Regeneration Projects Studio Esem The Royal Society of Victoria The Taboo Group Tract Design University of Melbourne Wowowa Yarra Pools Yarra Riverkeeper Association Yarra Valley Water Dream it

the plan

After almost three years of convening key organisations in the Swimmable Birrarung initiative–which builds on decades, and millennia, of work in service to a thriving waterway – we are working as a coalition of actors, supporting the holistic regeneration of the life-force that is the Birrarung. Together we have surfaced 7 key steps towards swimmability. Of course there there are already dozens of individuals and organisations working on an inspiring array of projects in each of these steps. Our next phase of work is to use these steps to help connect this movement and create a masterplan for a thriving and swimmable river.

1.Get swimming

Celebrate existing swimming locations upstream - and build momentum for this to happen in the right parts of city reaches.

2. Clean up the river

Stormwater, runoff and pollution don’t belong in the water. Work with diverse experts, breakthrough technology and innovative interventions to clean our river.

3. Measure and keep watch

Before we can swim, we need to know what we’re swimming in. Co-develop innovative and comprehensive ways to measure our real-time water quality along the length of the river.

4. Connect hands, hearts & stories

There is an unstoppable wave of people who care for, and love, this river. Making the birrarung swimmable again will be the result of many people, and many hearts directing their energy.

5. Work with a living river

The Birrarung is one living entity, from source to sea. We need to create an enabling governance and implementation environment that reflects this powerful reality.

6. Get capital flowing

This is perhaps the most important infrastructure project our city faces. We need to get deep financial resources flowing towards transformation and the regeneration of the waterway.

7. Return to nature

The river is us. Prioritise our need to protect biodiversity and the role our natural systems have to play in healing our waterways.

HOW WE WORK

Charity Mosienyane
River Systems Convenor
charity@regen.melbourne

Making a river Swimmable is no small task (just ask Paris). And the Birrarung in particular is wrapped up in a complicated tangle of local laws, corporate and government bureaucracy, and a lack of public awareness and engagement.

But for decades, organisations like Yarra Riverkeeper Association, Melbourne Water and so many more have been working tirelessly towards a better future for the Birrarung. All that we set out to do builds on the legacy of the Wilip-gin Birrarung murron (the Yarra River Protection act 2017) and the Burndap Birrarung burndap umarkoo (Yarra Strategic Plan).

Our role at Regen Melbourne is to help organise these actors (and attract new actors) around a common goal (Swimmable Birrarung), then channel that collective energy into a cohesive movement with a clearly defined mission. We do this via deep collaboration.

To find out more about how we work, including our design principles, our methodology and insights generated so far, please download our Fields of Action report from earlier in the year.

Advisory council

The purpose of the Swimmable Birrarung Advisory Council is to provide stewardship of our collective vision. Our work together is unashamedly ambitious, complex and long-term. This group provides strategic advice and leadership on the direction, development, priority areas and key issues in our collective work.