DEQ/Health Department Partnership Working

 

Midway, Wasatch County – A good working partnership between the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the local health departments has helped keep Utah’s air clean, its land lush and its water pristine.

“My commitment to you is to continue our work in this partnership,” Dianne Nielson, executive director of DEQ, told an audience of environmental health officers who attended the Utah Environmental Health Association’s fall conference held here Oct. 11-13.

The partnership between DEQ, the U.S. Environmental Agency (EPA), and local health departments, formed in 1993, has been an important part of how DEQ does business, Nielson said.

The partnership works well because DEQ and the health departments are aligned in their priorities. State leaders also recognize the need to take a flexible approach to meeting priorities and solving problems. “The issues look differently depending on where you live,” Nielson said.

Eureka and Park City took different approaches to address contaminated soils left behind by a legacy of mining. “Both are finding options to solve the problem,” Nielson said. Eureka is in the midst of a massive Superfund cleanup; Park City took itself off the Superfund list and curtails exposure to contaminated soils by enforcing city ordinances.

Stakeholder involvement is an important part of the process, Nielson said. “Voters, local officials, or anyone who has an interest or a stake in what we do, can be involved in the process.”

This is best illustrated through the Western Regional Air Partnership, a group of Western states and tribal governments working to help improve the visibility in national parks and western vistas.

DEQ does business today by using a set of operating principles, developed in collaboration with EPA and local health departments. Those principles are:

“As partners, we make a difference,” Nielson said.

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