A water suppliers’ group says almost 200,000 people in remote Australia do not have access to adequate drinking water.

A study from the Water Services Association of Australia has found unsafe drinking water across 115 remote locations, where people are forced to drink water containing unsafe levels of uranium, arsenic, nitrates, fluoride and E.coli.

Hundreds more towns and regional areas have water that fails aesthetic standards.

The worst water quality results were recorded in towns and communities in the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia, with remote Indigenous communities found to be the most affected.

More than 40 per cent of all locations surveyed for the study were remote Indigenous communities, and association executive director Adam Lovell says a lack of testing means the true scale of the issue is likely to be larger. 

The report recommends the federal government spend around $30 million to establish a national water monitoring program.

More details are accessible here.