Environmental Health

Environmental health refers to issues affected by one’s immediate environment, such as vermin, air-borne and insect-borne diseases, food poisoning, lead in homes and drinking water, lack of vaccination against childhood diseases, air and water pollution.
Environmental health concerns include:
- Biosafety.
- Food safety, including in agriculture, transportation, and food processing.
- Childhood lead poisoning prevention.
- Land use planning, including smart growth.
- Liquid waste disposal, including city waste water treatment plants, septic tanks, and chemical toilets.
- Medical waste management and disposal.
- Occupational health and industrial hygiene.
- Radiological health, including exposure to ionizing radiation from X-rays or radioactive isotopes.
- Recreational water illness prevention, including from swimming pools and ocean and freshwater swimming places.
- Solid waste management, including landfills, incinerators, recycling facilities, and composting.
- Toxic chemical exposure whether in consumer products, housing, workplaces, air, water or soil.
- Toxins from molds and algal blooms.
- Vector control, including the control of mosquitoes, rodents, flies, and cockroaches.
(Wikipedia)
The Delaware County Department of Health has a Division of Environmental Health which currently has five activities:
- Environmental Health Codes
- Environmental Health Programs and Services
- Mosquito/West Nile
- Food Safety Inspections
- Animal Bites to Humans
(Delaware County, PA)
Paths Forward
- Upper Darby 2026 Lead-Free Ordinance — approved Aug, 5, 2026
- Researchers Present Johns Hopkins Southeast Delco Environmental Health Study
- Getting the Lead out of Our Soil — EPA 2024 Virtual Mid-Atlantic Summit Video
- How to Control Mosquitoes naturally and Save Other Wildlife — TransitionTown Media
- Replacing Gas Appliances is Good for Your Health — Canary Media
- Delco Health Department and COSA Warn to Avoid Deadly Heat in 2024’s First Heat Wave
- Delaware County Lead reduction program – 123 Lead Free
- Creating Healthy Indoor Air Quality in Schools (US EPA)
- Federal Air monitoring investment could lower Southwestern PA Cancer
Latest Environmental Health Posts
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Brookhaven Borough passes resolution to ban LNG terminals anywhere in Delco
The Brookhaven Borough Council Monday night unanimously passed a resolution declaring its opposition to the construction of an LNG export terminal anywhere along the Delaware River waterfront in Delaware County. Read more…
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Environmental justice communities press Feds over $3 billion in stalled funding
Plaintiffs are continuing to press the Trump administration in federal court to restore $3 billion in grant funding for environmental and climate justice programs that would benefit underserved communities, as a Sept. 30 deadline nears. Read more…
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Upper Darby approves comprehensive lead remediation ordinance
Upper Darby Township has passed a comprehensive ordinance creating a Lead Poisoning Prevention and Lead Hazard Control program to reduce childhood lead exposure in the township’s older housing. The ordinance addresses lead-based paint hazards in properties built before 1978 when lead-based paint was banned in the United States. Read more…
