A South Australian minister has delivered an expletive-laden outburst to his state and federal counterparts as negotiations heat up over the future of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

At dinner at Rigoni's restaurant, South Australian Water Minister Ian Hunter delivered a strong rebuke of the efforts of other states to change the current plan.

"F*** you all," he said.

The dispute centres on extra water the plan promised to deliver to South Australia but only if that could be done without hurting communities upstream.

Labor promised to pursue that option before the 2013 election.

But federal Water Resources Minister Barnaby Joyce said it was still not clear the extra water could be returned to the environment without serious negative consequences for irrigation communities and economies.

A number of people at the dinner have confirmed to the ABC that the outburst took place.

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Victorian Water Minister Lisa Neville was the main target of Mr Hunter's abuse.

"I don't shy away from standing up for Victorians and what's best for our state," she said in a statement.

"This was a private dinner with all ministers."

Mr Hunter repeatedly told Ms Neville, both of who are Labor Party ministers, "F*** you," and called her a "c***" before storming out of the dinner.

Ms Neville called the tirade a "robust discussion" in which "a number of matters have been raised".

"My South Australian counterpart and I shared different views," she said.

A spokesperson for Mr Hunter said in a statement, "private discussions between basin ministers will remain so and his focus is on ensuring the Federal Government keep their promise on the basin plan."

The ABC has contacted Mr Joyce and Assistant Agriculture Minister senator Anne Ruston for comment.