A Griffith man facing a hefty bill to connect water to a rural property is calling on the federal government to due diligence under the United Nations article 24 rights of the child. Resident Greg Adamson has been in the process of cleaning up a rural home in the area that he hopes to use as a weekender with his teenage son Charlie and eventually rent out at a modest rate to assist with the housing crisis. Mr Adamson says although water is connected at the address, a metre is not installed and says this could cost as much as $15,000 to rectify. "But the cost doesn't worry me," Mr Adamson said. Instead the anomaly has sparked his concerns that the federal government isn't adhering to Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child that states 'children have the right to the best health care possible, clean water to drink, healthy food and a clean and safe environment to live in.' "Surely the NSW government is able to comply with their obligations under the United Nations rights of the child and allow any house where children reside to have access to drinking water?" Mr Adamson said. READ MORE He says it's not the first time he has challenged the government on such issues and immediate action was taken. "It's obvious this has been a consistent issue in Australia and it's not good enough. Why we have to advocate to get clean drinking water is troubling at best. It should be the government's number one priority," he said. "Ultimately I would like to see an inquiry into how it can be addressed because it should have happened years ago. According to the rights, it's the government's responsibility to monetise those rights but it appears to be neglected on both sides of politics." He says he has raised the issue with the NSW Ombudsman and claims it is looking to investigate the matter. "As far as I'm concerned this is a bigger issue rather than a personal one," Mr Adamson said. "I want it looked at on a broad scale. We need more people to challenge this so we can get this working, especially in rural and remote communities." Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: