THE situation North-East residents faced with contaminated water was ``absolutely not good enough'', Premier Will Hodgman has said.
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Mr Hodgman said that the North-East's lead-contaminated water was a concern to the Tasmanian community and a concern to the government.’’
But Greens leader Kim Booth went further, calling for an inquiry into the region’s water infrastructure.
The communities of Pioneer, Winnaleah, Ringarooma and others were not interested in further buck-passing among the authorities, Mr Booth said.
Mr Booth's call for an inquiry came after Mr Hodgman said that the government could not accept the current situation.
``We require a different way of looking at things and doing things,’’ Mr Hodgman said.
‘‘We’re going to look at a way of resolving these matters – local government has a responsibility, but the state government has an active interest.’’
Macquarie University researchers blamed high levels of lead on dated TasWater and Hydro Tasmania infrastructure.
TasWater chief executive officer Michael Brewster responded to the Premier’s concerns, saying it was working to fix the issue.
Mr Brewster said the water infrastructure had seen ‘‘substantial improvement’’ since it was transferred from its previous council owners in 2009.
He agreed that lead levels in areas with ‘‘Do Not Consume’’ notices were not acceptable.
‘‘We are spending $110 million a year to ensure that it never happens again,’’ Mr Brewster said.
He said 18 out of 26 towns with ‘‘Do Not Consume’’ or ‘‘Boil Water’’ alerts would be removed from the list by 2018.
‘‘Previous owners have probably struggled to raise the capital to reinvest in the assets,’’ Mr Brewster said.
‘‘In many cases the assets can’t cope with current-day demands, assets don’t comply with current standards, and in many cases they’re coming to end of their current life.’’
Mr Brewster said TasWater held concerns with some of the findings from the Macquarie University researchers’ report and would work through it with an independent analyst.