TasWater said it was investing heavily in bringing the town’s water treatment and supply up to scratch as soon as possible, but wouldn’t cart drinkable water to the town.

A TasWater spokesman said Bass Greens MHA Andrea Dawkins’ suggestion it should provide some sort of water relief to the community during the peak summer tourism period was “unsustainable and impractical”.

Scamander tourism operators have slammed the town’s undrinkable water as inflicting reputational damage on the town, with Scamander Beach Hotel owner Brian Forsyth pledging to withhold water payments until the issue was fixed.

“TasWater acknowledges it has taken some time to rectify the Scamander system and that it has a particular impact on the town, especially as it is at the heart of the East Coast tourism area,” a company spokesman said.

“Work is about to start on upgrading the water storage and distribution system in Scamander which is expected to further improve the system's reliability and produce good water”.

TasWater expects to fix networking issues by Christmas, with testing to continue until April.

In a letter to Local Government Minister Peter Gutwein, Ms Dawkins called on him to provide water relief during the peak tourist season.

She said it would ensure tourists visited the town and provide residents and businesses with security.

“Tourists will be put off by the boil water alert, and with other towns just down the road it's easy for visitors to bypass Scamander, despite its natural attractions,” she said.

Ms Dawkins said the form water relief took was a matter for Mr Gutwein but could include water tankers or rainwater tanks.

Mr Gutwein said he had yet to receive Ms Dawkins’s letter, but would urge TasWater to “proceed as quickly as possible” in their effort to upgrade Scamander’s system.

He said Tasmania deserved 21^st century water and sewerage infrastructure and again put the onus on councils to do more to fix the state’s aging infrastructure.