While Katherine residents remain on water restrictions waiting on work for its own upgraded plant, the first of two plants at Tindal is almost done.

The two plants are sited on the source of the PFAS contamination which continues to leak from the base, under Katherine and into the river.

They are designed to clean water leaving the fire training areas and re-inject the water back into the groundwater.

Residents have previously questioned the priority of locating the new plants first at Tindal given the Department of Defence acknowledges it will take many years to clean-up the contamination.

Tindal base residents also receive their supplies from the Katherine water treatment plant and are subject to the same restrictions.

The second plant is expected to be delivered before June next year.

Once the water treatment plants are operational, data detailing laboratory analysis, from each plant, will be placed on the Defence website monthly.

Senior defence official, Steve Grzeskowiak, told a Senate hearing in June the treatment plants will clean PFAS from groundwater, and then put the clean water back.

He told the hearing that defence would ‘need to run those plants for a long time’.

For an expected cost of $5 million for the first plant, it is expected to treat five megalitres of water per day.”