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ORANGE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT <br />Board of Health Policy and Procedure Manual <br />Section I: Board Adopted Policies <br />Policy D: Requests for Environmental Services and Assessments <br />Reviewed By: Board of Health & Health Director <br />Approved By: Board of Health <br /> <br />Review Annually (July) Page 1 of 4 <br />Original Effective Date: August 24, 2006 <br />Revision Dates: 11/2013, 11/2014 <br /> <br />\\kingcharles\Depts_AH\HEALTH\MANAGERS WORKING FILES\BOH\Policies and Procedures\BOH Policy Manual\Annual <br />Review\Track Changes\I.D. Environmental Assessment Policy BOH Manual_DRAFT Aug 2015.doc <br /> <br /> <br />Policy I.D.: <br />This policy covers processing and budgetary considerations regarding requests from citizens <br />and communities for environmental services and assessments to determine whether <br />environmental contaminants are present, environmental degradation has occurred or for the <br />applicant's information for future reference. <br /> <br />Purpose: <br />The purpose of this policy is to determine when environmental services, surveys or <br />assessments will be conducted and also to set forth the funding mechanisms for those actions. <br />Also covered within the policy scope are the decision tree for when community assessments <br />will be considered and the ensuing financial responsibilities for those expanded efforts. This <br />policy is not intended to cover nor does it cover applications, inspections, approvals or other <br />processes for regulatory programs generally administered in the Environmental Health <br />Services Division. <br /> <br />Section I Policy Overview <br />1.0 Environmental Health routinely receives concerns and queries from Orange <br />County residents regarding environmental investigations to determine whether <br />an environmental exposure exists and also whether unusual disease prevalence <br />is occurring. These requests may arise from an individual or from <br />communities. This policy addresses general and specific practices for these <br />requests and assigns responsibilities for their dispensation. <br /> <br />Section II Individual Requests <br />1.0 Individual residents may request services and environmental assessments for <br />their property, whether owned outright, leased, rented, or otherwise legally <br />occupied. These services include septic inspections, water samples, indoor air <br />quality (IAQ) assessments, vector control inspections, single disease case <br />investigations, or other services germane to current or future environmental <br />health programs. <br /> <br />Section III Community or Collective Requests <br />1.0 The following types of community or collective studies and assessments will <br />be considered and acted upon by staff with the appropriate approval(s) when <br />environmental conditions are suspected as a causative factor: <br /> <br />1.1 Acute and Chronic Disease <br />a. Airborne, vector-borne and waterborne diseases are environmentally <br />related in their transmissions and may affect a community as a whole. <br />Chronic diseases such as asthma and cancer can have causative factors