3. What is the government doing to help with managing the drought Most of Melbourne's water comes from protected catchment areas in the Yarra Ranges. Melbourne is one of about five cities in the world that has such protected catchments. The water is then directed into one of the nine reservoirs that service metropolitan Melbourne. Victorias water grid - a network of rivers, channels and pipes linking our major water systems - is being expanded to give the state greater flexibility to move water where it is needed, when it is needed. Schemes including the desalination plant, the Food Bowl Modernisation Project, the Goldfields Superpipe and others are all central parts of this broader plan. The government has $350,000,000 for drought relief which people are saying is unfair because they believe farmers are getting paid for not being able to manage there farms through the drought. But no one in Australia expected a drought like the one which we are currently experiencing.