One thing it will never do is return clean water to the Yacht Basin. The upper estuary suffers from three major impacts due to the presence of the city. The first to occur was the loss of tidal flushing capacity due to the establishment of levees to isolate the upstream wetlands in order to make use of them for farming or other uses. This primarily affected the ability of the river to maintain adequate channel size by its natural (tidal flushing) regime.

The science is crystal clear on that subject.

The second was the fragmented and low tech sewage systems installed by the six councils and now in the remit of TasWater.

The third was the diversion of the South Esk via the power station and thus robbing the Yacht Basin - Seaport area of their clean water supply and allowing the entry of turbid waters and consequent siltation in a low flow area. The only real practical solution to my mind is a return canal directing the power station discharge back to the Yacht Basin thereby flushing out the turbid water, creating a new clean waterbody of similar size and together providing extra tidal flushing capacity.

Come on Alan, you've overseen big projects over your career, the canal would barely rate in your pantheon. Besides, raking could be a key element of the canal construction methodology.

THERE is a clear message for Sustainable Timber Tasmania after the escaped fuel reduction burn near St Helens (The Examiner, October 3).

Either put your fires out or don't light them if the weather is forecast to change.

The burn was lit several days earlier.

Someone surely failed in their duty of care to allow this escape. The fire was one thing, but we all know by now the extra ambient smoke from this burn is carcinogenic. Heart and lung patients were put at immediate and longer-term health risk along with the young and the elderly. Our struggling health system does not need this extra burden.

This type of incident cannot be classed as an accident anymore.

Greg Mullins and the other ex-fire chiefs have recommended a CL-415 amphibious water bombing aircraft that can land on water and take on 6000 litres in 18 seconds.

Where were they in our time of need?

HERE we go again, same old stuff, different day.

Absolutely predictable that the Green and their ilk would immediately discover a bunch of conservation values on the site of the Northern Correctional Centre.

Never mind that it is an unallocated crown reserve, which is encroached by gorse,extensively used for hunting, firewood collection, stock grazing etc for decades.

Hardly pristine. Shades of the Greens long running and futile campaign against the construction of the hugely successful Meander Dam project. Their entrenched ideological opposition to virtually any development will leave them forever stuck in their own political wilderness.

THE confirmation of our borders opening shortly to WA, SA, NT, ACT and QLD is late but welcome progress in tackling COVID-19 as one, not individual states all with different agendas. We are one country, we have families split up all over our great nation, and we should be working together and open, as one. Surely by now, we have confidence that our Health Department is prepared and resourced enough to manage a deep suppression strategy once all our domestic borders are open?

NSW, VIC and QLD are managing very well with their test and trace strategy and low levels of transmission, so I look forward to our Premier taking the lead on opening up the borders to both NSW and VIC shortly as well, and before Christmas.

WHILE it is wonderful news to hear that our border will be reopening to some states, I think our government should have some strategies in place to protect Tasmanians.

I think it should be mandatory to have a temperature check on arrival, have the COVID-19 app on their mobile phone and test. People could lie about not having any symptoms. Surely if people want to be able to freely travel around our state, by having all three of these carried out, it would at the very least provide not only some reassurance to people but also make tracing easier.

As to only being allowed to stop to get fuel coming through Victoria at present, how does one know that a service station attendant hasn't come into contact with an infected person or if people stop along their way to go to a restroom or get food?

Are we asking too many people to do the right thing and keep our state safe?

I would like to see visitors to our state either have a recent negative test or have one on arrival. We have been extremely lucky to be able to enjoy a reasonably normal life for the last two months; I would have to see our state go backwards in the fight against COVID.

Many public places have slackened their safety protocols. I would like to see more policing of hand sanitising and social distancing, alcohol wipes for supermarket trolleys. These systems should become permanent fixtures.

We know that they have stopped the spread of flu this year so let's become proactive and maintain these basic health safety systems.