MELBOURNE'S water storage levels have edged above the one-third-full mark after the wettest June in nine years, but experts warn the rise will do little to ease Victoria's water shortage woes.
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Despite 33 billion litres flowing into the state's reservoirs last month after 99.1 millimetres of rain, the overall storage level was sitting at 34.7 per cent yesterday.
This was one percentage point higher than at June 30, when the level was 33.7 per cent (610,386 megalitres). This means almost 18 billion litres of water have flowed into reservoirs in the past 10 days.
In the city, 59 millimetres of rain fell last month.
But experts say it will take more than a decade of good rainfall to fill the state's catchments.
Melbourne Water's manager of water supply, John Woodland, said the amount of water flowing into dams after rainfall depended on how wet the soil was in the catchments.
''A few months of good rainfall does not make up for 13 years of drought. Storages are still only a little over a third full, so there's a long way to go,'' Mr Woodland said.
''I think people can feel a bit frustrated when there's a big storm and storage levels seem stubbornly static. It shows how complex our system is.''
But despite a low storage level, the catchments were situated in the best locations to receive rain.
''It's a bit of an urban myth that the catchments are in the wrong place because the data shows the average rainfall they receive is much higher than most of Melbourne,'' he said.
Climate meteorologist Dr Harvey Stern said the rainfall in eastern and central Victoria had been above average last month, but the north was still dry.
''The outlook is towards a more average type rainfall over the next couple of months,'' Dr Stern said.
Melbourne Water reported that holding storage at Cardinia Reservoir, the state's second biggest, was at 35 per cent capacity, while Victoria's biggest catchment, Thomson Reservoir, had the lowest level at 22 per cent.
Simon Birrell, a spokesman for Melbourne Water Catchment Network, an anti-logging group, said the low storage levels were more a result of tree-felling in catchment areas than low rainfall.
''You can't make the catchments bigger because it's not going to fill up. What's the point of making the dams bigger if they're never going to fill up anyway?'' Mr Birrell said.
''The vegetation is a reflection of the fact that there's high rainfall. The issue really is about management of the catchments and prioritising water production. Our issue is the logging, because logging reduces water yields and elevates bushfire risks.''
Mr Birrell called on the state government to stop logging in areas around national park reservoirs.
''The issue is a more efficient utilisation structure. To build a new dam to capture the amount of water lost through logging, you'd spend about $350 million,'' he said.
''The state government should make it a priority issue because if you're allowing logging in those areas, you're not prioritising water yields.''
Environment Victoria's Juliet Le Feuvre agreed, saying the low storage levels were a result of the drought's impact on Victorian dams.
But she said it was also a result of how much water was being lost through logging.
''It's a result of the long dry … [but] if you also log in the catchment, when you've got the young trees growing up, they're taking the water. It's not a new thing,'' she said.
Melbourne Water's John Woodland said the size of the dams was one reason why water levels seemed low.
''Our dams are massive and it takes a huge amount of water to make much of a dent in storage levels. A single percentage point is about 18 billion litres, which is more than two weeks' supply for Melbourne,'' Mr Woodland said.
