A five-day water outage at the largest Aboriginal homeland in Kakadu National Park has sparked an urgent audit of water contingency plans in 500 outstations across the Northern Territory, emails obtained by the ABC have revealed.

Key points: Emergency supplies of drinking water had to be trucked into the homeland

Emergency supplies of drinking water had to be trucked into the homeland The NT Government has launched an urgent water security review after a bore failure in Kakadu

The NT Government has launched an urgent water security review after a bore failure in Kakadu Concerns about water infrastructure could affect negotiations over the future of Jabiru

The incident last month at Mudginberri, 15 kilometres from the mining and tourist town of Jabiru, left more than 60 residents without running water in their taps as temperatures soared into the mid-30s.

Portable tanks with emergency drinking supplies were trucked in, but residents were unable to flush toilets, use showers or wash clothes during the outage.

The issue was linked to the low flow rate in the homeland's bore, which caused deep frustration and anxiety among residents.

"[I] feel upset because no water," traditional owner May Nango said.

Her partner, Djaykuk Djandjomerr, echoed her concerns.

"It's been really hard for us," Mr Djandjomerr said.

"Family are asking, 'What's going on? What's happening with the water?'"

Urgent review launched

Workers check the tanks at Mudginberri homeland after they ran out of water in early September. ( ABC News: Jano Gibson )

The situation at Mudginberri was eventually resolved after a different bore, which was set up in the 1970s, was connected to the community's water infrastructure.

But the fact the homeland was without running water for so long raised alarm bells at the Department of Local Government, Housing and Community Development.

An email obtained by the ABC shows the department asked all organisations funded to provide essential services to the Territory's 500 homelands to conduct urgent reviews.

Around 10,000 Aboriginal Territorians live on traditional lands in small populations known as homelands or outstations.

The department's email stated: "Water levels are reaching very low levels across the Northern Territory.

"As a result, [we are] requesting all service providers to provide advice on immediate actions to be undertaken in the event that water provision fails in the homelands they are funded to provide services for."

The audit revealed a bore at the Lingara homeland, 300 kilometres south-west of Katherine, was also failing to supply enough water to the outstation's 30 residents, Minister for Local Government, Housing and Community Development Gerry McCarthy said.

"We are trucking in and subsidising water into that homeland," Mr McCarthy said.

"Everywhere else seems OK, but in terms of water security issues, it's about now designing and being able to implement that emergency planning, should any homeland community run out of water."

But several service providers told the department they were aware of other homelands potentially at risk of running out of water and that funding would be needed for new infrastructure to improve the situation, according to correspondence obtained by the ABC through a Freedom of Information request.

Water failure could affect Jabiru redevelopment plans

Residents at the Mundingburra homeland in Kakadu were left without running water for five days after the bore stopped working. ( ABC News: Jano Gibson )

The recent water failure at Mudginberri could affect negotiations over the redevelopment of the town of Jabiru, the organisation representing the Mirarr traditional owners said.

With the nearby Ranger uranium mine set to close by 2021, the federal and NT governments have been negotiating with the Mirarr traditional owners about a long-term lease over the town.

"A cornerstone of the negotiation is that Aboriginal outstations that are dependent on Jabiru services are to be brought up to acceptable minimum standard," the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation said in a statement.

It said multiple layers of bureaucracy were impeding the provision of basic services and repeated failures could not be allowed to continue.

"The result of the current arrangements is that the funding is often underspent or diverted away from essential service provision despite the living conditions on outstations being deplorable," it said.

The Warnbi Aboriginal Corporation, which has been funded to provide essential services in 11 Kakadu homelands, said it responded to the recent Mudginberri outage as required under its funding agreement with the NT Government.

"The situation is all under control for [the] time being," Warnbi's operations manager, Avinash Yadav, said.

"Obviously that bore is running fine at the moment. [But] it was drilled in 1970 so we can't heavily rely on it."

The issues at Mudginberri triggered an urgent review of water contingency plans in 500 homelands across the NT. ( ABC News: Isabella Higgins )

To ensure the greater reliability, Mudginberri residents have demanded the construction of a new pipeline that would connect their homeland with Jabiru's chlorinated water supply.

Mr McCarthy said the pipeline plan, which would cost $300,000 to implement, has received funding approval from the Aboriginal Benefits Account.

The Minister said he would like the pipeline to be in place by the end of the year.