DEHQ Divisions

The Department of Environmental Health and Quality's mission is to protect the environment and public health. It accomplishes this through the work of three divisions.  

Food, Water, and Housing (FWHD) conducts more than 33,000 inspections of restaurants, food trucks, and food carts, issuing A-B-C grade cards to ensure food safety standards are met. The program also inspects over 7,300 swimming pools, assessing water quality, safety equipment, and filtration systems.

Environmental Health Specialists within FWHD oversee a wide range of facilities, including body art facilities, apartments, hotels, motels, camps, and detention centers. They respond to environmental and public health hazards such as fires, food recalls, and boil water orders, all in the interest of promoting safe communities.

FWHD also monitors the water quality of San Diego’s world-renowned beaches and bays, posting results to inform the public. Additional responsibilities include oversight of recycled water, inspection of small drinking water systems, wells, mobile home parks in unincorporated areas, and serve as the solid waste local enforcement agency dealing with landfills and composting facilities. Watch the video clip on Food and Housing, Watch a short video clip of Land and Water Quality.

Community Health runs the vector control program to keep us safe from diseases such as West Nile virus, hantavirus, Lyme disease, and others. It was also instrumental in the countywide program to control eye gnats. Other programs under the community health umbrella include radiological health and occupational health. Find out more about the Community Health Division in this short video clip.

Hazardous Materials regulates more than 13,000 businesses to ensure that hazardous materials, hazardous and medical wastes, are property catalogued, stored and managed. The HIRT (Hazardous Incident Response Team) responds to spills and works with various other agencies in cleanup operations. Watch a video clip on the Hazardous Materials Division.

DEHQ:  People - Environment - Health