Cherbourg residents have dealt with unreliable and dangerous water supplies for decades, enduring frequent warnings to boil their tap water or rely on bottled water exclusively.
The Indigenous community in Queensland recently dealt with a nine-month crisis due to contaminated water containing E. coli bacteria, which ended in July.
The ABC reports that a 2022 risk management report found water runoff from nearby cattle grazing land contained a "significant load" of viruses and bacteria, with mining operations from a nearby lime quarry also posing a risk to the water supply.
Cherbourg Shire Council staff say the local water treatment plant, which has been operating since the mid-1950s, should have been upgraded decades ago in order to keep pace with population growth and more intensive agriculture.
Last week, Queensland Water Minister Glenn Butcher announced $26 million in funding from the state and federal governments to tackle the long-running problem, including improvements to the water mains, filtration equipment and water treatment processes.
The minister, who said the funding was secure and would not be impacted by the result of the Queensland election on October 26, vowed the upgrades would give locals "the best water-drinking quality they can get".
"As we know, some of these remote regions need that extra support with extra filtration and extra upgrades for water treatment facilities — that's what this funding is going to do."
Recent studies have revealed widespread problems with water quality in remote and regional Aboriginal and predominantly Aboriginal communities across Australia.
In August, worms were discovered in the tap water of one Fitzroy Valley community, in WA's Kimberley region.
Cherbourg Shire Council chief executive Chatur Zala told the ABC the funding announcement was a welcome outcome after long negotiations with both the Queensland and federal governments.
"Sometimes we have to hit rock bottom for them to see things are not really working," he said.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows Cherbourg has more than double the rate of long-term health conditions such as diabetes and kidney disease experienced in the rest of Queensland.
Aunty Jacqui Tapua, director of the community-run Gundoo Early Childhood Centre, told the ABC the centre paid about $600 per month for bottled water.
She said outbreaks of diarrhoea, gastroenteritis and rotaviruses were common for children who drank the town water at home.
"We're not that remote that our water quality [should be] so poor that our children suffer, our Elders suffer," she said.
Aunty Tapua said long delays in bringing the water supply up to standard were a clear example of the inequitable treatment of First Nations communities in Cherbourg.
"If it was a non-Indigenous community, I think the problem would be solved," she said.
"I think we hear too often, 'We're fixing it'. Hopefully they'll do it right this time, for the future of the children of our community."
