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Environmental Health

The Environmental Health Department in Lafayette County provides a range of services to our citizens. It is our goal to protect our county's beautiful environment. We do this by offering services such as septic tank permitting, septic inspections, water testing, and nuisance complaint investigations. In addition to these services, we also regulate many of Lafayette County's facilities, such as tanning salons, group care facilities, swimming pools, public bathing places, and mobile home parks. Our trained staff is also involved in rabies control investigations, and we provide assistance in food borne illness outbreak investigations.

Complete Fee Schedule

See the complete list of charges for our department.

Mobile Home Parks

The Environmental Health Section provides routine health inspections in our county’s mobile home and RV parks. During these inspections, we check the cleanliness of these parks, as well as proper waste disposal, and outdoor insect control.

Rabies

Rabies is a potentially fatal virus that attacks the nervous system. It is passed to humans through infected animals by a bite, saliva, or possibly a scratch. This is why all animal bites or scratches should be reported to the Lafayette County Health Department immediately, regardless of how minor. Some obvious signs of rabies in animals are nervousness, fever, excessive drooling, and tremors. The best method of prevention for your pets is to make sure their rabies shots are current. It is also important to report any bites or wounds to your pets from other animals. To report a bite or scratch from animals on you or your pet, please contact us at (386) 294-1321.

Septic Systems

The Environmental Health Department provides permitting, inspecting, site testing, and general information regarding septic systems to the public. We ensure that your new septic system is constructed to the current Florida Codes and Statutes. We also provide information on advanced treatment and performance based systems for our environmentally sensitive areas.

Requirements and Fees:

A new septic system is $525.00. This includes the application fee, the soil evaluation, permit, and two inspections. To apply for a permit, you will need several items. First, a completed application is required. You may obtain an application packet from our office. Second, you will need a detailed site plan drawn to scale, a document of ownership, and an interior floor plan is also required. Further information, such as an elevation survey, may also be required upon request, depending on your location.

A repair permit is $300.00. You must obtain a permit before any drainfield repair work is performed on the system. You will need a completed application, a site plan of the area, a document of ownership, and a septic tank certification completed by a licensed septic tank contractor or plumber permitted by our office. You can check to make sure your contractor is licensed by calling us at (386) 294-1321.

A re-approval of an existing system is $260.00 if the system is over 3 years old, and $35.00 if the system is less than 3 years old and requires no field work. A septic modification permit is $470.00. This permit may be required when additions or replacement homes are larger than the system is designed to handle, therefore warranting additional drainfield. For this, you will need a completed application, a site plan drawn to scale, a septic tank certification by a licensed septic tank contractor or plumber certified through our office, and a document of ownership.

Water Testing

The Lafayette County Health Department requires facilities such as Mobile Home Parks and small businesses submit quarterly water samples to ensure quality drinking water for its residents, employees, and patrons. Private citizens that wish to have their well tested may contact us at (386) 294-1321 for more instructions on obtaining a test kit.

Contact Information

Environmental Health (386) 294-1321

Links

Florida Environmental Public Health Tracking Network