A Northern Territory community is still unable to drink water from the town’s supply more than two weeks after unsafe levels of lead and manganese were detected.

Garawa 1, a town camp in Borroloola, near the Gulf of Carpentaria, was given the all clear on Friday afternoon, but Garawa 2 remains on a precautionary warning to avoid drinking, brushing teeth, or preparing food using the camp’s water.



There is no indication from government about how long the Indigenous community will have to wait to drink their water, or about the cause of the contamination.

Around 200 people live across the two camps.

A 16,000 page review of town camps released last month recommended “urgent” upgrades to the water systems of both camps.



On Friday evening the NT department of health said two rounds of water sample testing at Garawa 1 were confirmed to have no trace of lead or manganese. The levels in Garawa 2 have subsided but remain above safety limits set by the Australian drinking water guidelines of 0.01mg/L for lead and 0.5mg/L for manganese.

The test results revealed levels of 0.011mg/L and 0.65mg/L respectively.

Following the first detection, residents of both camps were told to get water from a tanker, supplied for the purpose, or from bottled water or sources in Borroloola. Worried residents demanded blood testing.

There is no indication the contamination is related to the nearby lead and zinc mine at McArthur River, which has previously been linked to lead levels in fish stocks around the lease site, and tests determined the contamination was not in Garawa’s bore.

“PWC (PowerWater Corp) is therefore investigating to see if the source of the contamination is in the water pipework; for example, corrosion,” the department of health said last week.

The use of lead pipes ended around the 1930s, but lead solder was used on some pipes and fittings in Australia until about 1989.

The department of housing and community and community development told Guardian Australia that “generally” the reticulation system at the Garawa camps was made of PVC plastic.

However, while “relatively good information concerning the reticulation system is available for Garawa 1, [it is] limited for Garawa 2,” the spokeswoman said.

“Further investigation will be carried out to improve the understanding of the pipe network at Garawa 2.”

The department didn’t know when the pipes were installed, and said they were only replaced in the event of failure.

The department of housing did not respond to questions on how the pipes will be tested.

The NT government has only had responsibility for the town camps since 2008, prior to that it was under the Commonwealth government.

A review of town camps, commissioned by the NT government and released last month, recommended millions of dollars in works to upgrade the two camps’ water supply in order to get it up to current design standards.

The review, which assessed Garawa 1 and 2 in late 2016, did not conduct any “intrusive excavations or potholing of buried services” and did not make any findings about the condition of the the pipes.

It determined the supply – through a local bore and storage tank – was “inadequate”, but the rest of the network was “generally compliant with PWC standards”.

Residents reported to the investigators they often ran out of water, and the main tanks were too small.

“There are concerns about the condition of the storage tank and the ability of the supply to meet demands,” the report said.

“It is proposed that the Borroloola town network is extended across the river, connecting to Garawa 1 and Garawa 2 as a matter of urgency.”

The estimated costs for Garawa 1 were $14,000 to maintain the current system or $3.75m to bring it up to current design standards. The respective costs for Garawa 2 were $1,000 and $3.62m.

In response to the report, which estimated a cost of more than $77.7m to bring all town camps up to current standard, the NT government pledged $25m in works, which began last week with upgrades in the Bagot town camp in Darwin. Last week’s Territory budget revealed $15m was earmarked for 2017/18, and $9m for 2018/19. No further details were provided.