As with the measurement of housing need, the status of environmental health infrastructure requires a detailed assessment of functionality and adequacy set against agreed normative criteria. However, at the time of writing no secondary source of data was readily available with which to adequately establish change in the findings of the 1997 Environmental Health Survey, nor to establish, in a comprehensive way, the existing status of environmental health infrastructure. The most recent source of data is from the 2001 CHINS, and while this includes information on such issues as water supply, sewerage, drainage and solid waste disposal, this is more in the form of simply noting the existence or otherwise of infrastructure rather than assessing its functionality and adequacy. Likewise, CHINS data do not allow for the proper assessment of activities related to such issues as dust control, animal health and quality of waterways. For example, with regard to dust control, all that is available from the CHINS is the fact that a certain number of permanent dwellings in the region were located on sealed roads. Thus, while this provides some indication of the likely extent of dust mitigation as an issue, it is far from adequate as an indicator of progress.

The idea that Aboriginal community housing and infrastructure should be designed, constructed and maintained to support healthy living practices is now firmly embedded in policy following the pioneering work of Pholeros, Rainow and Torzillo (1993) in the Pitjantjatjara Lands. A total of nine such practices are identified, in descending order of priority in terms of impact on health outcomes: capacity to wash people, wash clothes and bedding, remove waste safely, improve nutrition, reduce crowding, separate people from animals, reduce dust, control temperature, and reduce trauma. Each of these refers to different aspects of the functionality of dwellings and their related infrastructure. For example, if the focus is on improving nutritional standards and practices, then ‘healthy home hardware’ refers to the provision of adequate facilities to store, prepare and cook food. It also extends to water quality and quantity as a lack of these may lead individuals to purchase bottled water or other beverages, thereby adding to expenditure and increasing reliance on soft drinks and cordials.

The National Indigenous Housing Guide (Commonwealth of Australia 1999) includes a range of detailed design and functionality guidelines to address each of these nine healthy living practices. The key functional area with most guidelines is that involving the supply, usage and removal of water: six of the nine healthy living practices are dependent on these. However, even seemingly obscure health-related housing functions include a wide range of design, maintenance and infrastructural features that require attention (Commonwealth of Australia 1999: 49-57). For example, guidelines for improved nutrition include consideration of the following factors:

The main, and most recent, source of data regarding the functionality of dwelling facilities remains the 1997 Environmental Health Needs Survey. For the Wunan ATSIC Region, this revealed that on average some 30% of the dwelling facilities surveyed were absent from dwellings in the region (Table 6.7), the most noticeable being laundry-floor waste outlets. However, if consideration is also given to facilities that are present but not working, then hot water systems were also effectively absent from as many as 48% of dwellings, more than 30% of dwellings had no effective toilet cistern, more than one-third had no effective laundry trough, and 30% had no kitchen sink, bath or shower. Overall, one-third of dwellings was either without facilities, or had facilities that were dysfunctional. Northern East Kimberley communities that stood out as lacking or requiring major repairs to three or more facilities included Oombulgurri, Nulleywah, Glen Hill, Wurrenranginy, Red Hill, Nicholson Camp, Cockatoo Springs, Mud Springs, Darlu Darlu, Crocodile Hole, Nulla Nulla, Baulu Wah, RB River Junction, Yirralallem, Dillon Springs, Woolah, Bow River, Guda Guda, and Molly Springs (Government of Western Australia 1998: 94).

However, aside from the constant need to ensure that maintenance funds are available and sufficient to ensure minimum environmental health standards, the main challenge for the future management of housing stock now seems to be to ensure that adequate and planned expansion occurs to accommodate new household formation for a rapidly growing population.