Environmental Health
Houawa Moua, REHS | Senior Environmental Health Specialist
Branden Hendrix | Environmental Health Specialist
981 H Street, Suite 110 | Crescent City, CA 95531
(707) 465-0426 | Fax (707) 465-0340
The Environmental Health Division's mission is to protect the health, prevent disease and promote health for all persons in Del Norte County.
Environmental Health is the prevention, preservation, and improvement of environmental factors affecting the health and safety of our community.
The Environmental Health Division is charged with the responsibility of enforcement of pertinent California health laws, rules, regulations, and Del Norte County Ordinances.
The common title of our staff is "Health Inspector" but the official title is "Environmental Health Specialist".
The State of California mandates that only qualified trained professionals may perform the duties within the scope of this field. Our Environmental Health Specialists have backgrounds in the sciences including chemistry, physics, biology, microbiology, mathematics and environmental health.
Public Health Notification
The Del Norte County Environmental Health Division (EHD) is reaching out to domestic well owners regarding recent detections of hexavalent chromium (Chromium-6) in water samples collected from community wells serving mobile home parks in the Northcrest Drive area. These community wells are separate from the Crescent City public water system. Recent water samples from the mobile home park wells have indicated hexavalent chromium concentrations ranging from 14 to 23 parts per billion (ppb).
California regulates chromium in drinking water under two separate standards. The California Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for Total Chromium is 50 ppb, while the MCL for Hexavalent Chromium (Chromium-6) is 10 ppb. The Hexavalent Chromium MCL became effective on October 1, 2024. The federal drinking water standard regulates only Total Chromium and has an MCL of 100 ppb. As a result, a water source may exceed California's Hexavalent Chromium standard while remaining below both the California and federal standards for Total Chromium.
What should I do?
• You do not need to use an alternative water supply (e.g., bottled water).
• This is not an emergency.
• If you have health concerns regarding the consumption of this water, you may wish to consult your doctor.
Although this is not an emergency, the EHD recommends that domestic well owners test their wells for hexavalent chromium or install a point-of-use (POU) or point-of-entry (POE) treatment device designed to remove hexavalent chromium.
Well owners interested in testing their wells may obtain a water sample bottle from the EHD at 981 H Street, Suite 110, Crescent City, CA 95531. Water samples must be delivered to Microbac Laboratories, located at 5680 West End Road, Arcata, CA 95521, for analysis. Microbac Laboratories can be reached at (707) 822-4649.
Examples of POU and POE treatment devices include reverse osmosis systems and certain pitcher-style filters certified to reduce hexavalent chromium. Information regarding residential treatment devices is available from the State Water Resources Control Board’s Residential Water Treatment Devices page.
Additional information regarding hexavalent chromium is available on the State Water Resources Control Board's
Hexavalent Chromium page.
If there are any questions or concerns regarding water sampling, POU or POE devices, please contact the EHD at (707) 465-0426 or email at environmental-health@co.del-norte.ca.us.
