The Dallas County Environmental Health Department is an agency of the Dallas County Board of Health. It is tasked with protecting public health and the environment.
What does that mean?
On a regular basis, you will find staff members of the Environmental Health Department out in our communities, performing a variety of inspections and educating businesses and landowners on topics such as waste disposal, indoor air quality and radon.
Tattoo shops, including those that do permanent eyebrows, are inspected annually by the department to make sure they follow all health and industry standards.
The department also issues permits for private wells and septic systems. Wells that need to be capped or reconstructed are inspected under the Grants to Counties program. Created in 1987 to protect Iowa’s groundwater, the program makes grants available to private well owners for services.
Your Environmental Health Department provides animal-bite follow-up for human rabies and answers many questions about exposures to bats, raccoons, dogs and other possible sources of rabies.
Contact the department at 515-993-3750 with concerns about bites or scratches from unvaccinated animals or animals with an unknown vaccination history.
Another service of the Dallas County Environmental Health is disposal of sharps. If you inject insulin or a medication, you may drop off sealed sharps containers at 25747 N Ave., Suite C, in rural Adel.
Ann Cochran is the health navigation coordinator in the Dallas County Public Health Department.
