HYDRO Tasmania should commit to strong and regular water release from from the Trevallyn Dam to tackle silt and enhance community use, Bass Liberal MHR Andrew Nikolic says.
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Mr Nikolic has called on the state-owned power company to make an agreement with Launceston residents about water use from the South Esk River.
He said restoring the health of the Tamar River depended on regular flushing flows down the Cataract Gorge, which were now an ''urgent priority''.
''An enormous amount of material has been removed by the silt raking program, but there is a continuing need to flush the river, particularly during times of low rainfall,'' Mr Nikolic said.
''Recent very low tides show that a lot has been accomplished but they also reinforce the need for regular, strong, scheduled water releases from the Trevallyn Dam,'' he said.
Mr Nikolic said it was important to continue removing silt, but also to reduce the level of pollution in the water.
He said the original legislation regulating water flow down the Gorge required at least a third of the river flow be maintained.
Hydro Tasmania has only committed to a regular flow of 2.5 cubic metres a second down the Gorge, but the average summer flow down the South Esk before the dam was created was 50 cubic metres a second.
