|
|
- Home
- Public Health
- Report of the Chief Health Officer
-
Environment data book
Environment data book
The Health of the people of New South Wales
Report of the Chief Health Officer
Download the Environment data book
Summary
|
Human health is inextricably linked to the environment. 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 from between 9 and 21 days;
- -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 supplies. 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 daily limits for the majority of samples tested in 2007. More than three quarters of the samples in rural water supplies met the daily fluoride standards in 2007;
- -all samples tested for inorganic chemicals (lead, copper, nitrate and nitrites) met the standards in the Sydney and Hunter regions, but in the regional water supplies tested, lead was detected at unacceptable levels in 1.3% of samples and copper in 0.1% of samples in 2007.
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, with almost three-quarters of children aged 1 to 4 years tested in 2007 having lead levels below the maximum permissible. The Housing for Health program aims to assess, repair, and replace health hardware in Aboriginal communities so that houses are safe and that cooking, cleaning and washing facilities function. Surveys conducted on 256 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 in 2007-08.
|
 |
File link: Environment data book
File size: &booksize
Type: Report
Date of Publication: &bookdate
Author Branch: Centre for Epidemiology & Research
Related links
|
|
