Instead of a river of gold, Launceston is literally living on a river full of poo. The mud and sediment just get worse and worse.

It's a flood risk and it's an eyesore.

I cringe at the idea of going for a swim.

The signs that say 'No Fishing, No Swimming' are spot on.

Pristine Tasmania? I don't think so.

Rice grass has just about ruined the place - it's spread like nothing else up and down the riverbanks, collecting chip packets, used surgical masks and gunk.

Worse, it has been destroying habitat and breeding grounds.

The fact is, for all the talk from state and federal governments about doing up the river, the place is still a mess. And these problems are way worse than what you can fix with a bit of extra dredging or some pretty boardwalks.

We don't need to throw $8 million at another 'Taskforce Talkfest' (the most recent thought-bubble from Labor). Doing little bits and pieces was never going to work.

It's time to stop going round the edges on this and hit the bullseye. We need action.

I reckon we should look at a barrage.

A barrage has gates that open with the tide going out, and close when the tide comes in.

It flushes the water and pollution out and stops it flowing back again.

We'd make a freshwater lake where the polluted river is now.

Barrages create beautiful waterways.

Think Adelaide, Canberra, and Singapore.

The Tamar's muddy low tides would be a thing of the past. A barrage would also give flood control. We could empty the lake down to Bass Strait, and close the gates to stop the tides going upriver to Launceston and inundating the place.

How to pay for it? For a start we can sell the freshwater to irrigators and hydrogen energy operators, rather than building a 50 km pipeline to Lake Trevallyn (two birds, meet my one stone). Even better, the freshwater would kill off all the bloody rice grass and give us lakeside beaches.

So local tourism would get a boost - much needed after the couple of years we've had.

Some people reckon a barrage will get in the way of the Tamar's birds and wildlife.

But experts say there are ways to protect the native animals. And you've got to look at the cost of doing nothing too.

Migratory and wading birds are losing more breeding grounds each year. The sad fact is, the river's been stuffed for years.

Will Hodgman set up a taskforce in 2017 and promised things would get better, and Peter Gutwein put money aside for more dredging before the last state election.

It hasn't happened.

It's all too slow, too little, too timid.

As usual, the politicians talk and the rest of us are left up the creek without a paddle.