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Indicator: HS-26 Percent of communities with sewerage and drainage systems

Data

Main sewerage type and reported usual population in Indigenous communities Australia – 2001

	Communities with a population of
	Less than 20	20-49	50-99	100-199	200 or more	Total	Reported usual population
Connected to town system	5	11	26	21	26	89	16281
Community water-borne system	2	2	10	14	68	96	50618
Septic tanks with common effluent disposal	21	21	18	18	26	104	14376
Septic tanks with leach drains	350	156	41	25	25	597	21883
Pit toilets	160	56	6	2	-	224	3525
Other organised sewerage system	10	4	1	-	-	15	292
Total with organised sewerage system	548	250	102	80	145	1125	106975
No organised sewerage system	68	23	-	-	-	91	1110
All communities	616	273	102	80	145	1216	108085

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002, Housing and Infrastructure in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics, viewed 25 Nov 2005, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/
b06660592430724fca2568b5007b8619/075a7d64c769ee67ca2568ce00037c69!OpenDocument, p. 21.

Permanent dwellings affected by sewerage system overflows of leakages (a) (Communities with a population of 50 or more)

	Communities with a population of			Total
	50-99	100-199	200 or more
Experienced sewerage system overflow or leakage
No dwellings affected	2	3	16	21
1-4 dwellings affected	22	18	21	61
5-9 dwellings affected	5	9	11	25
10 dwellings or more affected	5	10	30	45
Total with sewerage system overflow or leakage	35	40	81	156
Did not experience sewerage system overflow or leakage	67	40	64	171
All communities (b)	102	80	145	327

(a) - in the 12 months prior to the survey
(b) – includes ‘Number of dwellings affected by sewerage system overflow or leakage' not stated

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002, Housing and Infrastructure in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics, viewed 25 Nov 2005, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/
b06660592430724fca2568b5007b8619/075a7d64c769ee67ca2568ce00037c69!OpenDocument, p22.

Frequency of ponding (a)
(Communities with a population of 50 or more)

	Communities with a population of			Total
	10-99	100-199	200 or more
Experienced ponding
Once	6	9	30	45
Twice	3	3	6	12
Three times	5	3	4	12
Four times	2	2	1	5
Five times or more	15	11	37	63
Total with ponding	31	28	78	137
Did not experience ponding	70	52	66	188
All communities (b)	102	80	145	327

(a) – In the 12 months prior to the survey
(b) – includes ‘Whether the community experienced ponding' not stated

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002, Housing and Infrastructure in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics, viewed 25 Nov 2005, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/
b06660592430724fca2568b5007b8619/075a7d64c769ee67ca2568ce00037c69!OpenDocument, p. 23.

• Housing and Infrastructure in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities 1999 (PDF - 1530 KB) 
• Housing and Infrastructure in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities 2001 (PDF - 5621 KB) 

What the data mean

In 2001, 7% of discrete Indigenous communities reported having no organised sewerage system. All 91 communities without an organised sewerage system had a reported usual population of less than 50 persons and a combined population of 1,110 or 1% of the total reported population of discrete Indigenous communities.

Nearly half (48%) of the discrete Indigenous communities with a population of 50 or more experienced sewerage system overflow or leakage in the 12 months prior to the survey.

In the 12 months prior to the survey 42% of communities with a usual population of 50 or more experienced ponding. Nearly half (63) of these communities experienced ponding more than five times over the year.

Issues for which this is an indicator and why

Human Settlements — Liveability of human settlements - Accessibility to sewerage and drainage 

Although the majority of settlements in Australia are connected to reticulated sewerage, there are some remote settlements that do not have reticulated sewerage services. Connection to reticulated sewerage ensures that wastewater generated in settlements is treated to proper levels and do not cause adverse impacts on theliveability of the environment.