Report of the New South Wales Chief Health Officer	Table of contents Chapter introduction On this page: Commentary Print version
	Environment

Key points

• Human health and the environment are inextricably linked.

• The main contributors to air pollution in cities are industry and motor vehicles and wood-burning heaters. In the last 10 years in Sydney:

  - the number of days on which levels of ozone in the air have exceeded permissible levels has fluctuated;

  - levels of particulate air pollution have peaked at the time of bushfires.

• A range of indicators of the quality of drinking water, and of water used for recreation, are monitored continuously. The majority of households in NSW use public water suplies. Recent testing of drinking water indicates that:

  - drinking water supplied by the Sydney and Hunter Water Corporations meets Drinking Water Guidelines and is of good quality;

  - although the overall compliance rate for rural water supplies is high, results from individual supplies vary substantially;

  - the level of fluoride in drinking water supplied by the Sydney and Hunter Water Corporations stayed within the required limits for the majority of samples tested in 2005. More than three quarters of the samples in rural water supplies met the fluoride standards in 2005;

  - poisonous inorganic chemicals were detected in concentrations lower than required limits in 2005.

• Leaded petrol has been the main source of exposure to lead for most NSW children, except for those living near major sites for lead mining and processing, such as Broken Hill. In recent years:

  - blood lead levels among preschool children living in Broken Hill have declined steadily;

  - Aboriginal children in Broken Hill have blood lead levels higher than non-Aboriginal children.

• The Housing for Health program aims to assess, repair, and replace health hardware so that houses are safe and the occupants have the ability to carry out healthy living practices. Surveys conducted on 182 houses 6-12 months apart identified major improvements in key areas of safety, and facilities such as working showers and laundries, as a result of the program.

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