Residents of Tasmania’s most North-Easterly township will soon have access to clean drinking water.
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Gladstone, about 50 kilometres East of Scottsdale, has been under a boil water alert for about eight years.
As part of TasWater’s regional towns water supply strategy, regional Tasmanian towns such as Gladstone will have the removal of public health alerts fast-tracked.
TasWater is committed to completing this by August through its 24glasses initiative.
The boil water alert affects the 78 TasWater customers living in the Gladstone area.
The town’s water scheme began in 1954 where it sourced water from the Ringarooma River, but the water now provided by this scheme is untreated.
TasWater is building a new water treatment plant at the existing site, including a new reservoir, that will supply the area with safe drinking water that would meet the Australia Drinking Water Guidelines.
Work has begun at the plant site at Chaffey Street. The new plant to be built in Launceston and then transported to the North-East.
The plants were commissioned in 2016 as part of the $40 million project.
TasWater chief executive Mike Brewster said many new water treatment plants were to be commissioned and delivered over the coming months.
“TasWater made a commitment to address water quality issues in regional town supplies by the end of August this year and we intend to do that,” he said.
“We have successfully removed 13 public health alerts since we began our 24 Glasses campaign in 2016.”
Other regions in the state are also affected by the issue, such as Herrick, Mathinna, and Cornwall.
About 27 TasWater customers at Herrick will have access to clean drinking water when the water supply in that area has its alerts lifted, with 120 in Mathinna and 78 in Cornwall.
Up until August, however, customers still need to avoid drinking tap water until the alert is lifted by TasWater and the Department of Health and Human Services is confident there is no longer a public health concern.
TasWater monitor drinking water supply systems to ensure they are clear of E. coli bacteria, which can make people sick.