Mr Gutwein said that it would be unacceptable if councils and Taswater failed to fix ailing water and sewerage infrastructure.

Taswater, which is owned by local government, has admitted that not one of its 80 water treatment plants meets modern environmental standards and require tens of millions of dollars to upgrade to that standard.

A report last month found sewerage plants were having a concerning impact on the state’s rivers and coastal waters, and lagged well behind systems on the mainland.

Meanwhile, a number of communities in the NorthEast have had to deal with contaminated water that has been blamed on ageing Taswater pipes.

The state budget does not include any additional funding for the company and Mr Gutwein said that it would be up to councils and Taswater to fix the problem.

``I’ve made it perfectly clear to local government that failure in that space is unacceptable and if there were to be failure in that space then obviously the state government would have to take action,'' he said last week.

``Largely speaking, they do a good job, but there are obviously issues that they need to work through.

``It’s up to the local government owners and the corporation to ensure that adequate investment occurs in that space.''

But Mr Gutwein promised the state budget, set to be handed down on May 28, would give ``special attention'' to the North in other infrastructure.

``This budget is going to ensure that we invest in job-creating infrastructure programs to give the North the boost that they need,'' he said.

Mr Gutwein said that the state’s $130 million GST windfall would be used on infrastructure, rather than on recurrent spending.