From air pollution to lack of footpaths, decisions made about how and where to build houses have a long-term impact on the health of those who live there
And then there’s water pollution. Take the almost 500,000 septic tanks in Ireland. Nearly half of the 1,143 septic tanks inspected in 2022 failed, with 20 per cent being deemed a risk to human health or the environment. Half the septic tanks that have failed inspections outstanding more than two years involve “sewage surfacing in gardens and/or discharging illegally to ditches/streams”,. Local authority enforcement of failed septic tank inspections is inconsistent.
Clean water is also problematic, especially in the Greater Dublin Area , where homes and businesses are currently at serious risk of having no water. Water demand runs at an average of 588 million litres per day out of a maximum capacity of 620 million litres . In 2022 over 16,000 new houses were completed in the GDA, adding about 6 million litres demand per day.
Transport, housing, infrastructure and health outcomes are intricately related, yet governance of transport in Ireland is a, with 70 bodies involved nationally and locally. Housing is mostly left to the market and built wherever developers have land. Water infrastructure takes decades. And health doesn’t seem to get a look-in at a macro level. Multiple state policies are at odds with each other, such as climate change and housing.
Our housing should not make us sick. Although the specific issues have changed huge health challenges still exist, and public health’s role in the quality of housing structure and location is as important as ever.