The joint seminar recently presented by the Menzies School of Health Research and the Public Health Association of Australia mentioned in a previous post is now available on the web.

You can watch a recording of the seminar, view a PDF of the Powerpoint presentation and a summary of the Question and Brainstorm Points

The presentation had a number of points on drinking water. I find it disturbing that in Australia we are still discussing the need for sanitation and clean drinking water for its citizens.

The second slide focused on the achievements of John Snow in these areas.

Another slide discussed the prevention of illness as the key to improving public health.

Public Health – The key is prevention

•Clean water and sanitation
•Immunisation
•Health protection
•Peace and shelter
•Social determinants
•Health promotion

And then the question was posed:

Clean water and sanitation

•How many indigenous communities do not have this basic infrastructure 150 years after John Snow?

Unfortunately I believe many remote communities do not have this infrastructure. I know of some communities with drinking water nitrate levels regularly over 50ppm for at last two years and still have no filtration devices. (A discussion of inorganic chemicals in drinking water.)

In Western Australia we are only working towards implementing the drinking water standards of 1995. From the website of Parsons Brinkerhoff who manage the Remote Area Essential Services Program (RAESP) on behalf of Western Australia’s Department of Housing and Works (DHW)

RAESP delivers safe, reliable drinking water to some of the most isolated people in the driest part of the driest inhabited continent on earth.

The program is working toward implementing the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines 2004 (link now goes to current draft standards) and the Framework for Management of Drinking Water Quality. It provides monthly sampling of water supplies in 91 communities, and is achieving targets for microbiological and chemical water quality (95% compliance with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines).

Water source protection plans are under way in 36 communities.

The Federal Government is promoting Preventative (sic) Health for all Australians and Closing the Gap in health for our Indigenous Australians.

Yet we cannot provide the basic public health measures for all Australians.

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Tagged as: aboriginal, drinking water, Indigenous, Intervention, public health, sanitation, water

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