Experts are conducting a study into concerns about drinking water quality in remote NT communities. 

In 2020, a report by the state-owned Power and Water revealed that the water in the community of Laramba contained 0.052 milligrams per litre of uranium - several times more than the concentration limit recommended in Australia's drinking water guidelines.

Indigenous Australians living in remote areas display disproportionately high rates of kidney disease, which could be linked to the reduced water quality. 

Professor Paul Lawton - a kidney specialist with the Menzies school of health research - is leading a study into the issue.

“In remote Northern Territory communities, there are great concerns about the quality of drinking water right across the Territory,” Professor Lawton has told reporters.

“Almost all remote communities are reliant on bore water and, as a result, there are concerns that groundwater is being exposed to large amounts of minerals, particularly heavy metals.”

The study includes a comparison of water quality in remote Northern Territory communities  with pathology results over the past two decades.

“[It will] look at not only the relationship between [the results] and the burden of kidney disease, but [also on] the progression of kidney disease and the concentration of heavy metals over time in remote communities,” Professor Lawton says.

Meanwhile, the Northern Territory government says it is spending $7 million each year, over four years, to improve water quality and supply in the towns of Laramba, Engawala, Yuendumu, Epenarra, Imanpa, Atitjere, Warruwi, Angurugu, Beswick and Numbulwar.

Laramba is in line for a pilot water treatment trial and new water infrastructure as part of the scheme.