The Northern Territory government will challenge a ruling that found it is legally responsible for providing safe drinking water to its tenants, many of whom live in remote Indigenous communities, in the NT Court of Appeal on Friday.

The Territory government will argue NT landlords are not required to supply water at all to tenants. It is also reportedly running the alternative argument that if there is a duty to ensure that water is supplied to properties, landlords are not responsible if the drinking water is unsafe to drink. The NT government is the landlord of public tenants in more than 70 remote Indigenous communities across the Northern Territory.

In 2019, residents of the remote community of Laramba, west of Alice Springs, took their landlord, the NT Chief Executive Officer (Housing), to the NT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NTCAT) over concerns about their drinking water.

Their water was found to have contained uranium at levels three times the maximum safe level set out in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. The NTCAT found the landlord was not responsible for providing safe drinking water to its tenants, however this was overturned by the NT Supreme Court in October 2023.

Four years after the Laramba community's ground-breaking legal action began, the NT government responded by constructing a new water treatment plant for Laramba, in April 2023. While this resolved the issue for Laramba, it did not resolve water quality concerns for other remote communities and it also did not resolve whether the NT government owed them compensation for breach of their contractual obligations in the past.

The water treatment plant also does not address the potential damage to health already endured by community members. Uranium-enriched drinking water is known to affect kidney health over long periods of time.

According to Engineers Without Borders, Productivity Commission data shows an estimated 250,000 Indigenous people nationwide are currently unable to reliably access safe and healthy drinking water.

The residents bringing the case were represented by Australian Lawyers for Remote Aboriginal Rights (ALRAR) and barrister, Matthew Albert, at no cost to the community. Grata Fund has provided funding and support to the community throughout the legal journey.

On Thursday, Laramba community leader Adrian Dixon said: "For a long time our families in Laramba had to drink unsafe water that had too much uranium in it. We didn't know for a long time. When we found out we were worried that it made us sick.

"The NT Government would not fix it, so we had to take them to court. Instead of fixing the problem, they fought us in court every step of the way," he said.

"Last year, we won the Court case, and the Court said it was their responsibility. They are still arguing, and going back to Court again to say it is not their responsibility.

"A few years after we took them to court, the government did come and install a water filter for Laramba. That is good, but it doesn't solve the problem for other communities who also have unsafe water."

Mr Dixon said remote communities in the Territory "deserve the same basic services as any citizen of this country".

"We deserve safe water so our children can grow up strong and healthy, and so our elders can live to old age," he said.

"The NT government should not treat Aboriginal people this way. We will keep fighting for justice - for us and for other communities - we won't give up."

Australian Lawyers for Remote Aboriginal Rights solicitor Dan Kelly said the NT government is "trying to dodge responsibility for the most basic function of government, and the most basic of human rights: access to clean and safe drinking water".

"Tap water in many of the 73 remote Indigenous communities in the NT often isn't safe to drink. Each day that the NT Government continues to contest its obligation, it is delaying action, and access to safe drinking water for those communities. Instead it is spending money on lawyers, and not on solving the problem. Many of these water contamination issues can be resolved by purchasing and installing off-the-shelf filters for minimal cost," he said.

"It should not take five years of a lengthy legal battle to access safe drinking water. This should not be the case in a developed country like Australia.

"I want to thank the Laramba families who brought this case, and continue to fight for justice for their community and others across the Territory many years later."

Grata Fund executive director Isabelle Reinecke the NT government's decision to appeal the matter is "embarrassing and shameful".

"It is appalling that the NT Government is taking an obstructive rather than constructive approach to resolving the basic issue of safe drinking water," she said.

"This kind of government neglect simply would not happen in the big cities. It shouldn't have to be said that remote Indigenous communities in the NT should be able to drink the tap water in their homes, and deserve the same rights and basic services as all Australians."