Residents of the outback town of Oodnadatta are “suffering in conditions that we wouldn’t expect anyone in our community to live with day to day” due to their poor water quality, the state’s peak Aboriginal health group says.
The State Government will examine water supply issues facing remote South Australian communities, after the independent regulator flagged it would reject SA Water’s proposal to supply them with safe drinking water.
An SA Water proposal to make its customers across the state pay what is estimated to cost up to $200 million to provide safe drinking water to remote communities “cannot be justified”, an independent committee has found, as one outback town remains exposed to potentially fatal bore water.
It is one of the most arid places in South Australia, but for decades the outback town of Oodnadatta has been without safe drinking water, prompting health concerns and leaving locals furious about what they claim is a fundamental breach of human rights.