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

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 Highlands Lake — Craigieburn 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

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 Frederick Wichter Reserve ponds and wetlands — Keysborough 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 Pencil Park Pond and Wetlands — Keysborough 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 and Wetlands — Rowville Talisker Lake — Keysborough Tatterson Park Ponds — Keysborough Taylors Lakes — Taylors Lakes Tirhatuan Wetlands — Rowville and Dandenong North Valley Lake - Keilor East Waterford Valley Lakes — Rowville Waverley Park Lake — Mulgrave West Gate Lakes — Port Melbourne

Major storage reservoirs

Cardinia Reservoir, Emerald — Devilbend Reservoir, Tuerong — Greenvale Reservoir, Greenvale — Maroondah Reservoir, Healesville — O'Shannassy Reservoir, McMahons Creek — Silvan Reservoir, Silvan — Sugarloaf Reservoir, Christmas Hills — Tarago Reservoir, Neerim South — Thomson River Dam, Thomson — Upper Yarra Reservoir, Reefton — Yan Yean Reservoir, Yan Yean —

Small service reservoirs

Beaconsfield Reservoir, Officer Bittern Reservoir, Tuerong Cheltenham Reservoir, Cheltenham Cranbourne Service Reservoir, Cranbourne Dandenong Reservoir, Belgrave Darebin Reservoirs, Reservoir Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Frankston Reservoir, Frankston South Mitcham Reservoir, Mitcham Moorabbin Reservoir, Bentleigh East Mornington Reservoir, Mount Eliza Mt. View Reservoir, Glen Waverley St. Albans Reservoir, St. Albans Surrey Hills Reservoir, Surrey Hills Tyabb Reservoir, Tyabb

Gallery

Further reading

See also List of reservoirs and dams in Australia Melbourne Water Yarra River