Mr Downie was also involved with TasWater for a number of years and said that the council making a commitment to fixing the river would be something that could hang their hat on for years to come.

"The issue of the river has got to the point where people want something done about it and there's an opportunity for the Launceston City Council to have more input or perhaps lead the way forward," he said.

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"There needs to be a community body, like a council, to be championing the issue."

Mr Downie said that when discussions about Launceston's City Deal were raging prior to it being agreed upon in April 2017, he raised concerns about how viable a deal would be without a commitment to sustaining the Tamar.

"We pointed out that there was no point doing it unless you fix the sewerage, there's no point attracting more people to the city if you're not going to fix the sewerage," he said.

Sewerage is on the City Deal agenda by way of an $85 million investment for sewerage upgrades and $10 million for fencing upstream to stem the amount of livestock and farm runoff entering the river.

Last week NRM North - an organisation working with the Tamar Estuary Management Taskforce - chief executive Rosanna Coombes said 150km of the fencing had been completed and 65 per cent of stormwater cross-connections already rectified.

Our River - Exploring the health of the Tamar Estuary:

It is a major fix and the Tamar is the largest waterway in Tasmania, but Mr Downie said the current state of the river is not in line with Launceston council's want to attract tourists and business to the town.

"The aesthetic of it .... Is that promoting tourism? Is that promoting the culture?" he said.

"Do people want the river to return to users or not? Access to the river should be a basic requirement."

Launceston mayor Albert van Zetten agreed that a healthier kanamaluka / Tamar Estuary would "deliver environmental, social, cultural and economic benefits to Northern Tasmania".

"The Council believes that the future of Launceston as a major regional centre and tourism destination is inextricably bound to the estuary," he said.

Cr van Zetten said the task would fall beyond just the control of the Launceston council.

"The catchment for the kanamaluka / Tamar Estuary encompasses more than 10,000 square kilometres of Tasmania, and includes five major river systems across nine separate municipalities," he said.

Our River - Exploring the health of the Tamar Estuary:

"Around 90% of the entire catchment for the Tamar River Estuary is outside the control of the City of Launceston, and the majority of pathogens which enter the estuary do so from outside the Launceston municipal area."

With the inclusion of fixing the river having been included in the City Deal, Cr van Zetten said the council was doing what they could for the plight of kanamaluka / Tamar Estuary.

"It will take a whole of government and whole of community approach to securing improvements, which is why the establishment of the Tamar Estuary Management Taskforce and the development of the River Health Action Plan has been so critical," he said.

"Historically, no single agency or level of government has had the ability or resources to make a significant difference to the estuary's water quality and sediment management.

"The challenges facing the kanamaluka / Tamar Estuary are larger than any single local Council can resolve."

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