Remote community's decade-long wait for clean drinking water

Maxine Ningella fills plastic tubs with water from a decade-old donated filter in Pandanus Park. (ABC Kimberley: Rachel Jackson) An Aboriginal community in Western Australia's north said its fight for clean drinking water has taken more than a decade. Advocates and leaders say Pandanus Park is not alone, and improving water quality in remote communities needs to be prioritised across the state. The Water Corporation says upgrades to the community's water infrastructure are due to commence next year. Link copiedShareShare articleFor most people, accessing reliable, clean water involves walking into the kitchen. But for Maxine Ningella, it means a regular 600-metre walk with a wheelbarrow to collect water from the filtration system in the remote community of Pandanus Park. Around 2,300km north of Perth and 170km east of Broome in Western Australia's remote Kimberley, the community experiences the region's characteristically hot temperatures. Ms Ningella walks 600m with a wheelbarrow each day to collect water for her family. (ABC Kimberley: Rachel Jackson) Ms Ningella says the conditions make the walk difficult, but she is concerned about the water coming from her tap at home. "We need something to change in this community," she said. She is one of about 100 residents who say they have been waiting for a long-term fix to local drinking water increasingly contaminated by nitrate. Maxine Ningella says she believes the water quality at Pandanus Park has worsened over time. (ABC Kimberley: Rachel Jackson) In the Kimberley, nitrate pollution occurs naturally as vegetation breaks down and seeps into an aquifer. The chemical compound has been linked to cancer, kidney disease and diabetes — illnesses that already disproportionately affect Aboriginal people, according to health experts. A 2015 Auditor General's report found more than a dozen Aboriginal communities across WA, including Pandanus Park, had enough nitrate in their water supply to cause the potentially fatal condition blue baby syndrome. A second audit report released in 2021 found the levels were getting worse. Pat Riley says there have been few long-term solutions put forward for her community's water issues. (ABC Kimberley: Rachel Jackson) As a stopgap measure, bottled water is provided for infants under the age of three months. Community chairperson Patricia Riley has been advocating for improvement to the water quality for more than a decade. "As First Nations people, we're not being taken seriously," the Nyikina woman said. Testing by WA's Water Corporation shows nitrate contamination in Pandandus Park's water supply consistently falls below the 100mg/L limit for adults, but well above the 50mg/L limit for babies up to three months old, set out in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) Ms Riley has been advocating to fix Pandanus Park's water supply for more than a decade. (ABC Kimberley: Erin Parke) While residents are told the tap water is safe for people older than three months to drink, experts say the guidelines need to be changed. Murdoch University population health specialist Roz Walker has worked with communities across WA to advocate for improved water quality. Professor Walker said the current standards did not reflect conditions in remote communities. "If you're talking about a population that could be quite vulnerable … there's a number of us who feel the guidelines need to be altered," she said. She said contemporary research also suggested even small amounts of nitrate were completely unsafe for pregnant women, contrary to the guidelines. Professor Walker says research suggests small amounts of nitrate are "completely unsafe" for pregnant women. (Supplied: Megan Woodley) Experts say local and international research supports lowering allowable nitrate levels. Denmark is set to lower legal limits for nitrate contamination in drinking water to 6mg/L, after research found a link between nitrates and an increased risk of colorectal and bowel cancer at levels well below 50 mg/L. Ms Riley questioned whether health issues in the community, including cancer and kidney disease, were linked to the water quality. "We've got families with different health issues and they're expecting us to drink the water," Ms Riley said. Maxine Ningella says she wants a future with clean tap water at Pandanus Park for her family. (ABC Kimberley: Rachel Jackson) A spokesperson for the National Health and Medical Research Council, which sets the national guidelines for drinking water, said nitrate standards were scheduled for review in the next two years. "The guidelines are recommendations only, and implementation is a matter for the states and territories," the spokesperson said. The singular filtration system at Pandanus Park was installed free-of-charge in 2017 by the Yaru Foundation, the charity arm of a bottled water company near Byron Bay in New South Wales. A charity organised for a water filtration station to be i

Remote community's decade-long wait for clean drinking water

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