Local Environmental Services

Local Environmental Services

Within Snohomish county, Washington, the primary public health entity is the Snohomish Health District. This is a public agency, which is not a part of the county of Snohomish, but is tasked with ensuring the public health of Snohomish County. Snohomish County does not have its own department of Public Health. The Snohomish Health District is partly funded through Snohomish County, but also relies on other financial sources, such as grant funding, donations, and fees associated with their services. 

Within the Snohomish Health District is the Environmental Health Division, which is specifically concerned with the environmental health of Snohomish County. The Environmental Health Department of the Snohomish Health District has three, primary programs as follows: Food Safety, Water & Wastewater, and Solid Waste & Toxics. Other programs of the Snohomish Health District's Environmental Health Division include the Camp Safety Program, and the Environmental Health Software Update Program.

The Food Safety program of the Environmental Health Divsion of the Snohomish Health District is concerned with the training, certification, and distribution of permits for food handlers, food managers, food businesses, temporary food booths, and restaurant inspections.  

The Water & Wastewater program of the Environmental Health Division of the Snohomish Health District is concerned with reviewing and permitting on-site sewage disposal systems, and certification of septic pumpers and installers. Part of the Snohomish Health District's Water & Wastewater program includes the specialized program, named Snohomish County's Savvy Septic Program. This program offers incentives to residents and businesses for taking workshops on installing and maintaining environmentally friendly septic systems.

The Solid Waste & Toxics program of the Environmental Health Division of the Snohomish Health District permits and inspects solid waste handling facilities, monitors private water wells next to landfills, provides assistance to schools and businesses regarding their waste management, and responds to public complaints regarding  waste. The Environmental Program is also concerned with any inspections or complaints regarding toxic waste sites. In addition to the inspection of hazardous waste sites, any small businesses which produce toxic waste within a quantity less than 220lbs/month, are able to dispose of their waste at the Snohomish County Moderate Risk Waste facility, with an attached fee.  

The camp safety program of the Environmental Health Division of the Snohomish Health District inspects camp sites to ensure all facilities meet the health codes of the county. Lastly, the the Environmental Health Software Update Program is concerned with updating the ability of the Snohomish Health District to collect and analyze the data it receives, on the environmental health of the county. 

Reflections:

What surprised me most through this research is that the environmental health, and the overall public health of the county, is not directly provided through the county. Instead, another public agency which is not directly connected with Snohomish County, provides the services for Environmental and Pubic Health. This has piqued my interest in understanding why Snohomish County does not have its own department of Public Health. For instance, is it that Snohomish County simply does not have the funds to provide for its own department of Public Health, or that it is not prioritizing the funding of its own Public Health Service? Also, how well does a non-governmental agency, such as the Snohomish Health District, fare at ensuring Public health when compared to governmental agencies? 

Of the environmental health programs provided through the Snohomish Health District, the Environmental Health Software Update Program was the most interesting to me. I believe that updating and ensuring public health data collection and analysis systems are up-to-date, is an essential component to maintaining public health.  I have seen first-hand the detriments of having an inadequate system of data collection. For instance, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA) funds a grant which I work on for community health. SAMHSA provides the non-profit, community health organization I work with, with clunky, outdated excel sheets to input data into. The fact that the Snohomish Health District has a program which is specifically there to improve systems of data collection and analysis appears to be a great aspect of their services. Hopefully, this program has, and will continue to build efficient and accurate systems of data collection and analysis, for the improvement of public health in Snohomish County.