 |
May 2008 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Environmental Health oversees what we eat, drink and breathe |
|
|
Friday, 09 May 2008 |
New Environmental Health Director Molina jumps into job feet first
By Stacey Powells
Mammoth Times Staff Writer
 Louis Molina, Mono County's new Environmental Health DirectorPHOTO BY STACEY POWELLS
The better known program under Environmental Health has to do with food. The Environmental Health Department is in charge of any and all inspections that have to do with food. The department inspects the food booths at all the festivals in Mono County as well as doing restaurant inspections three times a year, all of which are unannounced. They also inspect temporary and mobile food facilities and follow up on food borne illnesses. The places that sell mostly packaged foods like the little markets attached to service stations are inspected about once a year. Grocery stores are also expected to have surprise inspections at least three times a year from the Environmental Health Department.
Routine inspections of commercial swimming pools and new pools and spas are par for the course. “We inspect the facilities to make sure that they meet state requirements,” said Louis Molina, newly appointed Environmental Health Director for Mono County. “There are state laws for commercial pools and spas that we enforce that have to do with safety equipment and water chemistry. In some cases, a pool or spa may need to be closed. For instance, if you can’t see the bottom of the pool, or the conditions are unsanitary, or PH levels are off or sanitizer concentrations inadequate, this would be cause for closure,” Molina said.
Just like the Public Works Department in Mono County, the people working in Environmental Health oversee many more divisions because Mono County is much smaller than, let’s say, Los Angeles County. “We have to cover all the bases so it’s not unusual for someone here to be trained to do inspections in more than one program,” Molina said. “We may have someone who is trained to do hazardous materials inspections as well as inspect septic systems in Mono County.”
Any water purveyor that serves between 15-199 service connections falls under local jurisdiction. For example, Lundy Mutual Water Company serves the residents of Mono City because there are about 100 service connections. “If you build a house in Mono City we would issue a permit for the on site sewage disposal system. The new home would be served water from the water company, which is also issued a permit to operate from our department,” Molina said. Environmental Health also regulates the water systems for the Crowley Lake area. Larger water systems, such as those serving Mammoth Lakes, June Lake and Bridgeport are regulated by the state of California. “We are also the enforcement agency to make sure solid waste is done correctly,” Salcido said. “We oversee the landfills and all the transfer stations in Mono County.”
One of the more unpleasant aspects of working in the Environmental Health Department is vector control. Diseases that are spread by fleas and ticks such as the plague and relapsing fever, as well as Hantavirus, all fall under their umbrella. “We always have investigations that are ongoing,” Salcido said. “Sometimes we have to bleed rodents and send off bird carcasses, and then there are the bats we have to send off for rabies testing.”
Even though Louis Molina has been working with Mono County for more than 15 years as a state employee, he has only been a true County employee since March 1. “When Mono County was tiny the thought from the state was that we didn’t have the resources to run this department so the state assigned people to come live and work in the county,” Salcido said. “Over time the County wanted more local control and we instituted our own Environmental Health Department.”
According to Salcido, the scope of work isn’t any different. “It’s sort of an invisible change, but we had to hire a total of six new employees because most of the employees were state employees when we took over and they left to continue working for the state elsewhere," she said.
Environmental Health Specialists are highly educated and well trained. They have to have a Bachelor of Science degree and even though they might specialize in a certain field, they will have to have some background knowledge in other aspects of the business. “We might hire someone whose specialty is solid waste or septic systems but they will also need to know how to do food inspections,” Salcido said. “They have to be a jack of all trades in Mono County.” The EH Department also runs training programs to teach restaurant owners how to have a safe food environment. “Education is big in all of our programs.”
For their part, Salcido said that as long as Environmental Health continues its vital work behind the scenes, the general public shouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary. “If we weren’t around you would notice because the food and water would be unsafe,” Salcido said.
|
|
|
|
