Working together to secure our water supply
Where does the water come from in remote communities?
Most of the water supply for remote communities comes from underground sources. Our subsidiary Indigenous Essential Services Pty Ltd delivers water to remote communities. Groundwater is pumped to the surface via production bores. Treated water is delivered to communities through a distribution system. Some communities get part of their supply from surface water - rivers or creeks.
Here to work alongside communities
Indigenous Essential Services employs local people to deliver your water supply. There are 72 water supply systems with networks of bores, tanks and distribution systems. There are many ways we protect your water and ensure it is safe to drink. This includes catchment protection, treatment, disinfection, sealed systems and backflow prevention.
With more than 260 production bores
72 disparate water systems
We use groundwater to deliver clean water to 72 remote communities
Water quality
We are committed to providing safe drinking water across the NT.
Many remote communities rely on groundwater, which can be hard, taste salty, and may contain naturally occurring minerals such as nitrate, fluoride and uranium.
We monitor and test drinking water quality against the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) for the 72 remote communities we support and provide an open and transparent record of these tests in our Drinking Water Quality Report.
We continue to invest in research to develop and evaluate technologies that offer solutions to these challenging water quality issues.
Work continues to improve outcomes for remote communities, with several water security projects underway in Beswick, Maningrida, Wadeye, Umbakumba and Angurugu. In partnership with the Australian Government, planning works are progressing in Alupurrulum and Amplitiwatja to improve water quality outcomes.
We treat water in some communities to limit exposure to disease-causing microorganisms. This is done by disinfecting the water with approved levels of chlorine before supplying it to homes and businesses.
In some instances we need to distribute an alternative source of water, if water quality doesn’t meet the ADWG and to meet Department of Health’s requirements.
When it comes to drinking water, we know how important water safety is. We deliver your water in line with Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. Our Drinking Water Quality reports tells you about the water supply in your community. We track your drinking water from the source under a framework for drinking water quality management. The Department of Health is the regulator for drinking water quality in the Northern Territory.
