Environmental Services

Environmental staff conduct routine inspections of all food service establishments in Mercer County, including but not limited to restaurants, cafeterias, retail groceries, convenience stores, bed-and-breakfasts, concession/food booths, as prescribed by state guidelines. The environmental staff also provides food service manager training to assure that food handlers have the skills and knowledge to produce the safest possible food products to the public.  Staff can also review plans for new and rennovated food service facilities.

The staff investigates complaints from the public on the above food outlets.

For further information on the restaurant placard/grading system, click on the blue/grey button to the left.

The environmental staff routinely inspects public swimming pools, schools, hotels/motels, mobile home and RV parks, youth camps, and jails.  The staff is available to review plans for new or rennovated facilities. 

The environmental staff is qualified to conduct site evaluations for residential and commercial sub-surface sewage disposal systems, provide technical assistance during installation, and perform final inspection of completed systems. Qualified environmentalists also perform existing system evaluations and provide recommendations for repair and upgrades. Fee charged.

KYDPH Environmental Management Branch

Kentucky Onsite Sewage Disposal System -

http://www.lrc.state.ky.us/kar/902/010/085.htm

http://www.kentuckyonsite.org/documents/KentuckyHomeownersGuideFinal.doc

NOTE: Newly revised LOCAL regulations have been approved for On-Site Sewage Disposal. The new regulations are listed below. The effective date for the revised ordinance is April 19, 2008.

Revised Local On-Site Septic Regs

The environmental staff collects private water samples from cisterns, wells and other sources for analysis in the state lab. Fee charged.

Radon test kits are available free to residents of Mercer County.  The kits are prepackaged with a prepaid mailing envelope, and are available during health department business hours. Community programs are also available on radon awareness.

The health department works closely with veternarians and other community agencies to provide yearly low cost rabies vaccination clinics for cats, dogs, and ferrets.  All reported animal bites are investigated by the environmental staff to quarantine the animal and to determine the need for lab analysis and/or physician referral for the victim.