The Environmental Health staff enforces environmental health and safety regulations in the City of Lawrence and unincorporated areas of Douglas County for the benefit of all residents and to protect environmental quality.
Services include:
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Onsite sewage management septic system permits and inspections 
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Private water supply (well) permits and inspections
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Well water samples collected and screened for bacteria and nitrates
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Non-residential (public) swimming pool and spa inspections
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School inspections
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Child care facility inspections
• Septage hauling equipment permits and inspections
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Response to animal bites in unincorporated Douglas County
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Response to citizens' complaints about environmental health issues
Hours
For more information or to schedule an onsite sewage management system or private well water supply inspection, call (785) 843-3060 and ask for an Environmental Health Specialist. You can also e-mail ehinfo@ldchealth.org
A sluggish economy, which contributed to a slow in construction, decreased the number of Health Department sanitary code inspections in 2009.
2010 Clean Water/Sanitary Code Enforcement fact sheet >>
FAMILY BENEFITS FROM ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH EXPERTISE
One of the Health Department’s Environmental Health Staff members recently helped educate a family on the proper use of a septic system in their home. The Bloomwood family had always lived in the city and this was the first time they had ever lived in a rural area.
Moving to Douglas County was a huge change.
Jim, an Environmental Health staff member, helped the Bloomwoods by showing them exactly what needed to be done to maintain a septic system. Environmental Health staff perform necessary inspections, but there are times when they are asked to help people with various environmental issues.
The Bloomwood family said they don’t know what they would have done or who they would have gone to if not for Jim’s help. Luke Bloomwood said he’s thankful someone was there.
“I didn’t know a lot of things that needed to be done or what living in a rural area would mean for us,” he said. “The Health Department staff person really helped us to better understand a lot of things we had no idea about."
*Names have been changed
A sense of security
Frustration led Jacques Moraille to make his voice heard at a meeting of the North Lawrence Improvement Association in 2006.
Moraille, who has lived in the neighborhood for six years, was tired of the standing water problem and concerned about the environment becoming hospitable to mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes can carry West Nile Virus and encephalitis, which can cause illness and even death in people and animals.
After learning of the Health Department’s Environmental Health program and its efforts to reduce the mosquito population in Lawrence and Douglas County, Moraille left the meeting relieved. As part of its mission to address health problems, the Health Department places environmentally-friendly larvacide tablets in neighborhoods prone to standing water.
Moraille contacted the Health Department with his concerns and began a relationship with the Environmental Health program that has lasted for the past two years. The EH program will typically field between eight and 18 standing water complaints a year.
“Every time I have made a request – sometimes on the same day, they will come out,” Moraille said.
The father of two boys under the age of 4 said the Environmental Health program’s larvacide applications provide some relief during the spring and summer months.
“The (Environmental Health) program has been very good,” Moraille said. “I’m very grateful for it.”
Click here to download regulations and forms from the EH links page
Douglas County Sanitation Code
For additional information, call (785) 843-3060 or e-mail ehinfo@ldchealth.org
