The Launceston Chamber of Commerce has called for faster progress on plans to improve the city's sewerage and stormwater systems to restore the kanamaluka/Tamar river's health.
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In a statement on Wednesday Chamber of Commerce executive officer Will Cassidy said the organisation welcomed TEMT's 10-year vision for the waterway, but said it was vital the Launceston Sewer Improvement Plan and kanamaluka/ Tamar River Health Action Plan be implemented sooner.
Mr Cassidy said although LSIP had been announced in 2016, the implementation of the plan would not commence until at least 2025.
"We have serious concerns about the progress of LSIP," Mr Cassidy said.
"We know that LSIP is challenging, but there seems to have been quite a lot of studies and yet no real outcomes from the improvement plan whatsoever".
Mr Cassidy acknowledged the scale of the work was "a huge challenge" but after six years the Chamber had expected major work to be undertaken.
LSIP and TERHAP are part of a broader plan to improve Launceston's sewer treatment and drainage network, which comprise a single pipe that carries sewerage and drain water that overflows from the upper estuary.
The overflow has been a source of constant contamination for the waterway, which Mr Cassidy said had become a cause for concern.
The Tamar Estuary & Esk River report card from earlier this year said the upper estuary as had "as with previous years, a poor ecosystem health score".
TEMT's river health report from last year identified the cost of removing sewer overflows as being in excess of $500 million and "not likely possible", but said rationalisations for waste-water treatment plants would be evaluated in the LSIP.
However a TasWater spokesperson on Thursday said improvement works at sewage treatment plants around Launceston had been done "in parallel with planning for major upgrades" under LSIP.
The spokesperson said while LSIP planning was underway a "range of improvements, upgrades and works" had been completed at plants in Legana, Newnham, Riverside, Ti Tree Bend, Hoblers Bridge, Norwood and Prospect.
TasWater said planned upgrades to the sewer system on Margaret Street would begin "in the next couple of months" as part of TERHAP.
In its corporate plan for 2021-2025 TasWater said $179 million would be spent over the four year period on LSIP.
TasWater did not confirm when works on LSIP would commence, but said TERHAP upgrades would be completed by 2025.
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