Provides information to the public about hazardous household waste such as  
-  Household hazardous waste disposal options 
-  Ways to reduce the use of hazardous materials and the availability of safer products and techniques  

Haz Waste Help Line offered by Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County

Operates a hazard waste hotline and provides information about business incentives and grants. Also provides hazard waste management information as well as the Wastemobile schedule.

Programs that provide classes, individual instruction or other opportunities for people who want to learn or perfect their skills in landscape design; decorative plant selection and maintenance; construction or installation of walls, decking, lighting, fencing and planters; and other aspects of indoor and outdoor gardening.

Gardening/Landscaping Instruction

Programs that ensure human safety and protect the quality of the environment by regulating pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and rodenticides; preventing their indiscriminate use; establishing tolerance levels for pesticide/herbicide residues in or on food; monitoring pesticide and herbicide levels in food, humans, fish, wildlife and their environment; investigating pesticide/herbicide accidents; and, where warranted, initiating litigation against individuals and organizations who have failed to comply with pesticide/herbicide control regulations.

Pesticide/Herbicide Control

Programs that establish regulations for the disposal of hazardous waste, issue hazardous waste permits which authorize the treatment of hazardous materials and discharge into the public sewer system; issue licenses for for class one landfills, i.e., those that handle all waste except for nuclear materials; establish standards for abandoned hazardous waste; accept and investigate reports of accidental spills or illegal dumping into the streets, gutters, catch basins, sewers or storm drains; and, where warranted, revoke licenses or permits that have been issued and/or initiate litigation against individuals and organizations who have failed to comply with hazardous waste control regulations.

Hazardous Waste Control

Works to protect community and environmental health and inspire the use of ecologically sound solutions to reduce the use of pesticides.  Promotes organic and sustainable food production through strengthening and supporting research, demonstration, and training systems that seek ecological solutions to agricultural pest problems. In doing so, we collaborate with farmers, researchers, universities, food and farm advocates, policy makers, other non-profit organizations, and progressive, green-minded companies.

Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP) offered at Northwest Center for Alternatives

Provides resources to promote ecological solutions for alternatives to pesticides to protect people, communities and agricultural industries.

Organizations that work for the introduction of new legislation or changes in current laws or practices that will more effectively protect the physical environment from pollution, exploitation or waste and/or preserve our natural resources, including our wildlife, for enjoyment by future generations.

Environmental Improvement Groups

Programs that maintain information about community resources that are appropriate for a specific target group or human services sector (for example, youth programs or addiction services) and which link individuals who are in need of specialized services with appropriate resources and/or which provide information about community agencies and organizations that offer specialized services.

Specialized Information and Referral

Sells study guides for all of the Department of Agriculture pesticide licensing exams. The Private Applicator Exam can be taken in the Franklin County Extension office in either English or Spanish.

Pesticide Training Material and Private Applicator Exams offered at  WSU Franklin County Extension

Sells study guides for all of the Department of Agriculture pesticide licensing exams.The Private Applicator Exam can be taken in the Franklin County Extension office in either English or Spanish.

Offers a full range of environmental services, including:
-  Water testing 
-  Epidemiology 
-  Septic-tank 
-  Food inspection 
-  Bio-terrorism 
-  Communicable disease 
-  Hazardous waste 
-  Rodent control regulations

Environmental Health Services offered at  Columbia County Public Health Department

Offers a wide range of environmental services.

Programs that clean and restore property that has been the scene of a violent crime, accident or unattended death, or used as a methamphetamine lab. Crime scene and trauma cleaning services have specialized training and equipment to deal with homes and businesses that have been contaminated by blood, body fluids and other biohazards, fingerprint powder and other evidence-gathering chemicals, tear gas and pepper spray residues, fire extinguisher residue and other conditions that render a space unusable.

Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup Services

Programs that issue bulletins which warn the public to avoid purchasing or eating food, pet food or animal feed that is contaminated, contains high levels of mercury or other hazardous substances or otherwise constitutes a public health problem.

Food Safety Warnings

Programs that offer the services of individuals who inspect, clean and/or repair septic systems as part of routine maintenance, in response to septic system problems or in conjunction with selling or purchasing property. Inspections generally include examination of the location, age, size and original design of the septic system; the soil conditions, drainage, seasonal water table and flooding possibilities on the site where the septic system is located; the sludge level in the septic tank if it has not been recently pumped; plumbing fixtures and their layout to determine whether structural changes have been made to the plumbing that would increase flow to the septic system above capacity; and the condition of the absorption field, i.e., evidence of liquid waste reaching the soil surface, draining toward nearby lakes and streams, or clogging the soil and gravel beneath the field. The inspection process identifies problems with the septic system and recommended solutions. Septic tanks should be pumped by a certified contractor on a routine basis.

Septic System Inspection/Maintenance

Programs that control the occurrence of tuberculosis by monitoring the incidence of the disease in the general population, investigating individual outbreaks and identifying and screening recent contacts of people who are infected to stop the spread of the disease.

Tuberculosis Control

Programs that control the occurrence of influenza by monitoring the incidence of the disease in the general population, identifying the level of influenza activity (no activity, sporadic, local, regional or widespread), determining the types of virus that are circulating, detecting changes in the influenza virus, investigating individual outbreaks, tracking the number of hospitalizations and flu-related deaths, evaluating prevention efforts and taking appropriate measures to prevent disease transmission.

Influenza Control

Programs that attempt to control the occurrence of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), a group of symptoms (including certain infections and/or cancers) that collectively characterize the condition and are the result of a weakening of the immune system caused by infection with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). Activities include surveillance of the occurrence of the disease in the community, investigation of individual cases, and development of case histories and other interventions that will help to increase the medical establishment's understanding of the causes of the diseases and potential methods of prevention and cure. AIDS control activities are often initiated by local HIV prevention planning groups that are responsible for developing needs assessments and planning long and short-term strategies specific to target communities as determined by the studies.

AIDS/HIV Control

Programs that issue bulletins or otherwise inform the public of conditions which are conducive to the development and spread of a specific communicable disease or which advise the public of an outbreak that puts them at risk.

Disease Control Advisories

Programs that enforce food handling and dispensing laws and regulations by regularly inspecting restaurants, food stands, mobile food vehicles and carts (e.g., lunch trucks, ice cream trucks, produce carts), summer food service sites, congregate meal sites, employee on-site feeding operations, catering services, food sampling booths, wholesale food processing and manufacturing plants, markets, bakeries and food vending machines for health hazards; consulting with food facilities regarding improved food handling practices; and issuing citations and fines to establishments that have failed to comply with prescribed health practices and regulations. The program also provides information about requirements for retail food establishments, restaurant ratings and a list of establishments that have been closed because of health violations.

Restaurant/Food Sanitation

Programs that conduct tests of the drinking water that is available to people in their homes or other buildings to detect the presence of hazardous chemicals or other pollutants, and to analyze water composition in terms of softness, odor, color and contaminants (including chemicals such as magnesium sulphate, sodium sulphate and sodium chloride) that, while harmless, affect taste. Tests may be conducted by the authority responsible for the water system or by independent companies. Also available are test kits which can be used in the home for this purpose.

Tap Water Testing

Programs that investigate reported cases of food poisoning from commercial sources (restaurants, vending machines, manufacturers, markets), ensure that the diagnosis is confirmed, identify the source of the problem, and work with the establishment in which the outbreak originated to prevent further transmission of the illness by disposing of the contaminated food and correcting the food handling practices that caused the problem.

Food Poisoning Investigation

Programs that control the occurrence of meningococcal disease/meningitis by monitoring the incidence of the disease in the general population, investigating individual outbreaks and identifying and screening recent contacts of people who are infected to stop the spread of the disease.

Meningitis Control

Programs that issue permits which certify that homeless shelters, shelters for women who have experienced domestic violence, hotels, motels, boarding homes, private schools, parochial schools, child care facilities, adult and juvenile detention facilities and other transient housing facilities and institutions are in conformance with public health laws and ordinances.

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Haz Waste Help Line offered by Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County

Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP) offered at Northwest Center for Alternatives

Pesticide Training Material and Private Applicator Exams offered at WSU Franklin County Extension

Environmental Health Services offered at Columbia County Public Health Department