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Environmental health

Introduction

Human health and the environment are linked. In rural areas, issues as diverse as land use, agricultural practice, water quality, fuel use, and biodiversity influence human health. Similarly, in the urban and built environment, air and water quality, fuel use, transport choice, urban form, and environmental health infrastructure influence human health.[1] Increasingly, the effect on human health of global phenomena, such as population growth and climate change, are recognised at a local level.[2]

Safe and good quality drinking water is essential to sustain life; also, drinking water should be aesthetically pleasing. Guidance on what constitutes safe and good quality drinking water is provided by the 2004 Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. These guidelines are intended for use by the Australian community, including all agencies with responsibilities associated with the supply of drinking water: catchment and water resource managers, drinking water suppliers, water regulators, and health authorities.[3]

Between 1975 and 1996, household energy consumption increased by 46 per cent and is projected to increase a further 14 per cent by 2010. The amount and type of energy used in the home has considerable implications for the environment, as some forms of energy, particularly fossil fuels, deplete natural resources, generate greenhouse gas emissions, and cause pollution. Growing awareness of these problems has led to moves toward less harmful energy sources, such as natural gas and solar energy and energy conservation, to reduce the environmental effects of household energy consumption.[4] Also, burning fuel in the home releases products of combustion, which includes water vapour, carbon monoxide, and other gases. In homes where fuels are burnt, adequate ventilation is required to prevent risk to respiratory health.

In 2006, the New South Wales Population Health Survey asked respondents: What is your normal source of drinking water? Do you treat your water before drinking? Those who obtained their drinking water from a public water supply were asked an additional question: How do you treat your water? and What is the usual way you heat the living areas of your home?

Results

Drinking water

Overall, in 2006, 81.7 per cent of adults used a public water supply as their usual source of drinking water. The next most prevalent sources of drinking water were bottled water (8.0 per cent) and rain water (7.6 per cent). Of those whose usual source of drinking water was a public water supply, 63.4 per cent did not treat their drinking water, while 35.2 per cent reported they either filtered (25.1 per cent) or boiled (9.4 per cent) or filtered and boiled (0.7 per cent) their water before drinking.

A significantly higher proportion of adults aged 75 years and over (86.8 per cent) used a public water supply as their usual source of drinking water. A significantly lower proportion of adults in rural areas (67.9 per cent) than urban areas (87.6 per cent) used a public water supply as their usual source of drinking water. A higher proportion of adults in the Sydney South West (86.1 per cent), South Eastern Sydney & Illawarra (89.0 per cent), Northern Sydney & Central Coast (89.6 per cent), and Sydney West (85.9 per cent) Health Areas used a public water supply as their usual source of drinking water. A lower proportion of adults in the Hunter & New England (74.7 per cent), North Coast (71.6 per cent), Greater Southern (64.0 per cent), and Greater Western (49.1 per cent) Health Areas used a public water supply as their usual source of drinking water.

The use of a public water supply as a usual source of drinking water decreases with socioeconomic disadvantage. A higher proportion of adults in the least disadvantaged quintile (92.5 per cent), and a lower proportion of adults in the 2 most disadvantaged quintiles (74.2 per cent and 77.4 per cent), used a public water supply as their usual source of drinking water, compared with the overall adult population.

There has been no significant change in the proportion of adults obtaining their drinking water from a public water supply between 2002 and 2006.

Home heating: Exposure to unflued heating

Overall, in 2006, 29.6 per cent of adults heated their living areas with reverse cycle air conditioning, 25.1 per cent with electric space or oil column heaters, 17.2 per cent with a gas heater without a flue, 6.6 per cent with a gas heater with a flue, 9.8 per cent with a slow burning combustion heater, 2.0 per cent with an open fireplace, and 0.2 per cent with a kerosene heater.

Overall, in 2006, 19.4 per cent of adults aged 16 years and over were exposed to unflued heating in the home. A significantly higher proportion of adults aged 45-54 years (24.2 per cent), and a significantly lower proportion of adults aged 65-74 years (16.1 per cent) and 75 years and over (13.8 per cent) were exposed to unflued heating in the home. There was no significant variation in the proportion of adults in urban areas or rural areas exposed to unflued heating in the home; however, a higher proportion of adults in the Northern Sydney & Central Coast (23.0 per cent) and Greater Western (23.1 per cent) Health Areas, and a lower proportion of adults in the North Coast Health Area (13.6 per cent), were exposed to unflued heating in the home, compared with the overall adult population.

Exposure to unflued heating in the home did not vary by level of socioeconomic disadvantage.

There has been significant decrease in the proportion of adults exposed to unflued heating in the home between 2002 (22.7 per cent) and 2006 (19.4 per cent).

References

  1. Frumkin H. Urban Sprawl and Public Health. Public Health Reports 2002; 177. Available online at www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/articles/Urban%20Sprawl%20and%20Public%20Health%20-%20PHR.pdf (accessed 8 May 2007).
  2. Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. Human Health and Climate Change in Oceania: A Risk Assessment 2002. Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, 2003. Available online at www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/Publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-publicat-document-metadata-env_climate.htm (accessed 8 May 2007).
  3. National Health and Medical Research Council. Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. Canberra: National Health and Medical Research Council, 2004. Available online at www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/eh19syn.htm (accessed 8 May 2007).
  4. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Use of Resources: Household energy. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006. Available online at usewww.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/1892cf9fc515974bca2570ec0019ebaa!OpenDocument (accessed 8 May 2007).

Graphs

Source: New South Wales Population Health Survey 2006 (HOIST). Centre for Epidemiology and Research, NSW Department of Health.
Print version: Although this page can be printed directly from your web browser, a higher quality version is available as a PDF file that can be printed or viewed on screen.
Produced by: Centre for Epidemiology and Research, Population Health Division, NSW Department of Health.
Last updated on: 1 July 2007

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