On Thursday the company announced it had lifted long standing boil water alerts for Cornwall and Gladstone in the state’s North-East.

Gladstone, about 50 kilometres East of Scottsdale, has been under a boil water alert for about eight years.

The alert lift is thanks to a new water treatment plant on Gladstone Road, which removes contaminants from the water before feeding to a new 250 kilometre reservoir. 

Mr Brewster said about 150 properties in the area were now receiving water that was safe to drink straight from the tap. 

“We prioritised the supply of safe treated drinking water to our customers when we committed to lifting all public health alerts in regional towns across Tasmania by the end of August this year,” he said. 

“With today’s announcement, 15 public health alerts have so far been lifted since August 2016, with the remaining 13 soon to follow.”

Cornwall and Gladstone are the first regional towns to have permanent, longstanding public health alerts lifted this year, as part of TasWater’s 24glasses Regional Towns Water Supply Program. 

Mr Brewster said the cost of the project was estimated to be about $60 million. 

“That [cost]is not just the water treatment plants. We have had to go through every town and in many cases, replace their reticulation networks, so all the underground piping,” he said.

Permanent boil water alerts at Wayatinah and Epping Forest are expected to be lifted within the next few weeks.