Winning water fails taste test for residents

THEIR area may have just won the crown as the source of Tasmania’s best drinking water, but the people who live closest to Lake Fenton still have to boil their tap water before drinking it.

Residents and businesses in National Park and Westaway, and the many tourists who go through there on their way to Mt Field, will have to wait until a new water-treatment plant is built next year to be able to drink from the tap.

The water from Lake Fenton, which is piped into Hobart’s northern suburbs, was this week deemed the state’s best drinking water.

However, those near its source are on a boil water alert.

Water from Lake Fenton runs along natural streams to a weir above National Park.

From there, it is collected by TasWater in the Fenton pipeline. It is chlorinated and distributed to Hobart suburbs and also stored in dams at the city’s Waterworks Reserve.

During heavy rain, organic material and sediment picked up as the water travels to the weir can make the water turbid, or discoloured.

When this happens, TasWater stops piping water from Lake Fenton into Hobart and sources water from elsewhere.

“However, due to the configuration of the infrastructure in the local area of Fenton bury, Westerway and National Park, it is not practical to prevent the turbid water entering the supply network of these communities,” TasWater said.

A permanent boil water alert was put in place last year.

Rachel Power, the owner of Waterfalls Cafe and Gallery at National Park, said every time it rained, the water became undrinkable. She said the alert was needed but it was time to upgrade the system as tourist numbers continued to grow.