Environmental Health Services
San Bernardino County Environmental Health Services protects public health through inspections, permits, plan review, complaint investigations, environmental programs, and enforcement of health and safety requirements. Residents, business owners, property owners, event organizers, contractors, and facility operators can use Environmental Health Services for matters involving food facilities, public pools, drinking water, wastewater, housing, vector control, body art, medical waste, street vending, temporary food events, and other regulated activities. This article explains which services are handled by the department, how to identify the correct program, where to obtain applications and inspection information, what to prepare before submitting a request, and which common filing mistakes can cause delays.
Environmental Health Services Role
Environmental Health Services, commonly referred to as EHS, is part of the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health. The agency is designated by the State of California and San Bernardino County to enforce laws and regulations involving food protection, recreational health, vector control, safe drinking water, housing, organized camps, body art, medical waste, wastewater, solid waste, land use, and emergency response.
The department's work combines inspections, education, permitting, plan review, complaint response, and enforcement. Its stated public-health responsibilities include preventing the spread of disease, protecting people from environmental hazards, preventing injuries, encouraging healthy practices, responding to disasters, and supporting access to health services throughout the county.
The Environmental Health Services website is the main starting point for applications, payments, plan-check information, inspection reports, complaint filing, forms, fees, environmental alerts, and program information. Because EHS operates several different programs, applicants should identify the program connected with their property, facility, activity, or project before selecting a form or submitting documents.
Programs Handled by EHS
Environmental Health Services regulates a broad range of facilities and environmental conditions. Major programs include food facilities, mosquito and vector control, street vendors, safe drinking water, plan check, recreation and aquatic facilities, wastewater and land use, solid waste, massage and body art practice, housing and lodging, and medical waste.
The type of business or activity determines which requirements apply. For example, a restaurant project may involve both a health permit and plan review, while a public swimming pool may require construction plan review as well as an operating health permit. A property using an onsite wastewater treatment system follows a different process from a facility applying for a food permit.
The county's applications, forms, and fees page organizes documents by program. Applicants should select the form matching the actual business type or regulated activity rather than assuming that a general health permit application covers every situation.
Food Facilities and Vendors
EHS regulates food facilities including restaurants, supermarkets, bakeries, convenience stores, food markets, school cafeterias, bars, nightclubs, mobile food vehicles, swap meets, and food booths at special events. The department's service-area information states that food-facility services are provided in all cities in the desert, mountain, and valley areas covered by the program.
Food-related applications available through EHS include a Health Permit Application, applications associated with semifrozen milk products, commissary agreements, mobile food facility operating schedules, catering applications, temporary food facility permits, and forms for certain exemptions and operating procedures.
Street vending has its own health permit application and preliminary mobile food facility checklists. Applicants should therefore distinguish a street-vending operation from a fixed restaurant, mobile food facility, temporary-event booth, cottage food operation, or other food business before filing.
Temporary Food Events
Temporary food events have requirements for both event organizers and participating food vendors. According to the county, the community event submission process does not replace health permit requirements. When food will be sold at an event, the event organizer and participating food vendors are required to have the applicable health permits.
Applications for temporary food facility events must be submitted at least two weeks before the event. EHS provides separate applications for a Temporary Food Facility Event Organizer Health Permit and a Temporary Food Facility Vendor Health Permit. A Declaration for Food Facility Exemption at Temporary Event is also available for situations covered by that form.
Temporary Food Facility applications may be submitted by email, fax, or mail using the submission methods identified by EHS. Other EHS applications use the department's general application submission channels, so applicants should avoid sending a temporary food application through a process intended for another program.
Permits, Renewals, and Fees
Many regulated operations require a health permit. EHS states that a permit is issued on the condition that the permit holder complies with applicable federal, state, and county laws, ordinances, and regulations. A permit may be suspended or revoked by the Department of Public Health for cause.
Permit holders are responsible for paying required fees before the health permit expiration date. Failure to receive an invoice does not eliminate the obligation to make a timely payment. EHS states that penalty fees are applied when payment is not received within 30 days after the expiration date.
Before submitting payment, operators should confirm which permit or application applies to their activity and review the current fee information published by EHS. This is particularly important when a project involves more than one regulatory component, such as a food facility undergoing construction, a public pool requiring plan review, or a facility changing ownership.
Customer Portal Changes
EHS has announced a new Customer Portal that will consolidate online services. The department states that customers will be required to create a portal account to pay fees, view permits, process permit renewals, submit applications, and view inspection reports.
Because the portal implementation affects several routine transactions, users should rely on the current instructions displayed on the EHS website when they are ready to submit an application, renew a permit, or pay a fee. This helps avoid following an older workflow after a service has moved to the newer system.
Plan Review and Construction
The EHS Plan Check program reviews plans and inspects construction for retail and wholesale food facilities and public swimming pools. It also provides consultation for prospective food-facility and public-pool operators.
The Plan Check program accepts both paper and electronic plans. Paper plans may be submitted at the San Bernardino, Rancho Cucamonga, and Hesperia offices. Electronic plans may be sent to EHS using the department's designated customer service email address.
Electronic plans must be attached in PDF format or made available through a downloadable file-sharing link. A completed Application for Plan Review is required with both paper and electronic submittals. EHS also states that submissions may receive a preliminary review before intake.
Preparing Plan Submittals
For food-facility projects, EHS recommends using its preliminary checklists before submitting plans. Separate checklists are available for food-handling facilities and prepackaged-food facilities. The purpose is to make sure plans contain the information needed for review and to reduce the chance of additional submissions.
Missing documents or incomplete plan information can create avoidable delays. Applicants should make sure the plan-review application is complete, plans are provided in the required format, and the appropriate checklist has been considered before submission.
Construction schedules should also account for inspection availability. EHS warns that field inspections may be scheduled several weeks after a request because of increased business development. A project should not assume that an inspection can be arranged immediately before a planned opening date.
Inspection Reports and Facility Searches
EHS makes inspection information available through its facility search system. The Environmental Health facility search allows users to search permitted facilities and review information such as facility name, address, city, inspection date, and score when those fields are available.
The search results cover many types of regulated facilities, so entering a precise business or facility name can help distinguish similar records. Users can also review city information when confirming that they have selected the correct facility.
The portal requires JavaScript to function as intended. If the search page does not load or operate correctly, users should confirm that JavaScript is enabled in the browser before assuming the county system is unavailable.
Interpreting Facility Records
A facility search record should be matched to the correct physical location before relying on its inspection information. Businesses with similar names, multiple locations, or changed ownership may appear as separate entries. Comparing the facility name, street information, and city helps reduce the risk of reading the inspection history for a different operation.
Some entries display a numeric inspection score, while others may show an asterisk or multiple scores. Users should rely on the information presented for that specific facility rather than assuming every EHS program uses the same scoring format.
Environmental Health Complaints
EHS accepts complaints involving facilities and conditions within its regulatory responsibilities. The county's online complaint process is designed to identify the complaint type, the facility involved, and the incident being reported.
The online Environmental Health complaint form follows four steps:
Select the type of complaint.
Enter or select the facility information.
Provide the complaint information and incident description.
Review the information and submit the complaint.
The facility section asks for information such as the business name, address, city, ZIP code, and cross street. Users should identify the correct business whenever possible rather than submitting a complaint against a similarly named facility.
Required Complaint Information
The online complaint system requires the complainant's name, a valid phone number, an email address, and a description of the incident. EHS states that the name and phone information are kept confidential and used for official purposes only.
If a complainant does not have an email address, the online form directs the person to submit the complaint by phone instead. An incident description is also required, so users should provide enough information to explain the environmental health concern and identify what occurred.
The portal offers an option to follow the facility and receive email notifications when new inspection reports become available. This is separate from filing the complaint itself.
Housing and Lodging Inspections
EHS inspects certain apartments, hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfast facilities, organized camps, and detention facilities for environmental health and sanitation conditions. The Housing and Lodging program explains the specific types of conditions reviewed.
Hotel, motel, and bed-and-breakfast inspections may examine cleaning and disinfecting practices, bedding, mattress covers, room cleanliness, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, hot and cold water, and window screens. EHS also investigates public complaints involving these facilities.
Apartment inspections apply to multi-unit residential buildings with three or more units within EHS's applicable service area. Inspectors review potential physical hazards, sanitation, signs of infestation, and the presence of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
One limitation is especially useful for residents to recognize: EHS states that it does not test or inspect for mold. A mold concern should therefore not be presented as though the department offers residential mold testing.
Organized Camp Requirements
EHS inspections of organized camps can include food service and kitchen practices, swimming pools and bathing sites, water systems, housing accommodations, emergency evacuation plans, plumbing facilities, vector concerns, and infirmary records.
Camps must promptly notify EHS of increases in symptoms that may be associated with communicable diseases, infections, or foodborne illness. The county states that immediate notification is required by state law.
Food-handler requirements depend on the length of camp operation. Organizations operating at camps longer than two weeks must have food-handler staff obtain the San Bernardino County Certified Food Handler card. For camps operating two weeks or less, EHS provides an organized-camp food-safety training course for volunteers or staff who handle food or food-contact surfaces, but that course does not issue a Food Handler Card.
Mosquito and Vector Control
The Mosquito and Vector Control program addresses mosquitoes and other vectors that can spread disease or create public-health concerns. Its work includes inspections, treatment of water sources, and responses to service requests involving mosquitoes, ticks, rodents, and other vectors.
The Mosquito and Vector Control program also provides a ZIP-code locator to help residents determine which vector control district serves their area. This distinction matters because EHS service coverage for vector control is not identical in every city.
EHS defines vectors broadly to include insects, arthropods, rodents, and other animals capable of harboring or transmitting agents of human disease. The program addresses risks including West Nile virus and plague and also provides information on concerns such as neglected swimming pools, invasive mosquitoes, rodents, mosquitoes, ticks, and dead birds.
Public Pools and Aquatic Facilities
EHS inspects public swimming places for health and safety hazards. Regulated facilities include pools, spas, waterslides, lakes, lagoons, and other public water-contact recreation facilities.
Inspections may address drowning hazards, unsafe chemical levels, and other health or safety concerns. EHS also investigates complaints, trains pool owners and operators, and reviews plans for the construction of commercial pools, spas, waterslides, and lagoons.
Applications available for aquatic facilities include a Health Permit Application, an Application for a Drained Swimming Pool/Spa Permit, and an incident report covering fecal, vomit, or blood contamination and near-drowning or drowning incidents.
Drinking Water and Wells
The Safe Drinking Water Program regulates community and non-community water systems that provide water to the public. It inspects and permits these systems and enforces federal and state drinking-water requirements.
The Safe Drinking Water program also regulates certain groundwater-related activities. EHS approves and permits the construction and destruction of monitoring wells, cathodic protection wells, and geothermal wells and provides general water-quality information to residents planning to drill wells.
Applications include a Well Permit Application, Application for Well Drillers Registration, Well Certification Application, and Notice of Intent to Extract or Divert Water.
For well permit applications within Mojave Water Agency boundaries submitted on or after August 5, 2024, EHS states that applicants will be requested to complete the agency's Notice of Intent to Extract or Divert Water and submit it with the well permit application.
Wastewater and Land Use
EHS reviews environmental health considerations associated with development, including water, waste disposal, noise, vectors, and natural-resource protection. Wastewater responsibilities include reviewing sewage disposal reports, percolation reports, and onsite wastewater treatment system issues.
The Wastewater and Land Use program distinguishes between projects submitted through County Land Use Services and applications submitted directly to EHS. Since January 22, 2024, applications for onsite wastewater treatment system design review and sewage holding tanks that require the applicable land-use process are submitted to Land Use Services through EZOP. Designated Maintenance Area and alternative treatment system operating permit applications continue to be submitted directly to EHS.
Onsite Wastewater Systems
When a sewer connection is unavailable, San Bernardino County requires a home builder to construct an onsite wastewater treatment system, also known as a septic system. EHS reviews percolation reports used to determine soil absorption rates and evaluates testing methods, calculations, and design rates.
The percolation test must be conducted by a qualified professional. The county identifies qualifying professionals as Registered Civil Engineers, Certified Engineering Geologists, Geotechnical Engineers, Registered Geologists, or Registered Environmental Health Specialists.
Designated Maintenance Areas have additional operating requirements because they are considered sensitive to wastewater contamination. EHS conducts inspections every other year in these areas. When ownership changes, the new owner must obtain the required DMA permit and submit the applicable OWTS Permit/Transfer of Ownership application with the required documentation.
Sewage Holding Tanks
A sewage holding tank stores wastewater for later removal. EHS approval is required before a person or entity installs, uses, or controls a sewage holding tank in the unincorporated county area under the circumstances described by the program.
All sewage holding tanks within the county are required to maintain an annual operating permit with EHS and receive an annual staff inspection. Applicants should therefore distinguish a sewage holding tank from a conventional onsite wastewater treatment system when choosing forms and permit procedures.
Service Areas by Program
EHS serves the county, but some programs are city-specific. The Environmental Health service area page identifies where individual programs operate.
Food facilities, private schools, public swimming pools, sewage holding tanks, and sewage pumper trucks are shown as serving all cities across the desert, mountain, and valley service areas. Other programs have narrower geographic coverage.
For example, apartment inspection coverage includes Yucca Valley in the desert area, no mountain cities, and Chino Hills in the valley area. Vector-control coverage also varies by city. Users should therefore confirm the service area for the specific program rather than assuming that every EHS function has identical jurisdiction.
Common Application Problems
Several avoidable mistakes can interfere with an Environmental Health Services request. Selecting the wrong application is one of the most common risks because EHS maintains separate forms for different regulated activities. A temporary food vendor, event organizer, mobile food facility, cottage food operator, body art facility, public pool operator, well applicant, and wastewater project may each follow a different process.
Applicants should also avoid submitting incomplete plan-review packages. EHS requires an Application for Plan Review with plan submissions and provides preliminary checklists to reduce missing information and repeat submittals.
Permit holders should not rely on receiving an invoice as a reminder to renew. The operator remains responsible for paying before expiration, and late penalties apply when payment is not received within 30 days after the expiration date.
Another source of confusion is jurisdiction. Some EHS programs apply throughout the county, while others operate only in specified cities or unincorporated areas. Wastewater projects may also involve County Land Use Services rather than direct EHS submission, depending on the project type.
Complaint filers should make sure the business or facility selected in the portal matches the location involved in the incident. Inspection-report users should take the same precaution when searching facility records.
Environmental Health Emergencies
EHS participates in emergency and disaster response with the Department of Public Health and San Bernardino County. Its emergency information addresses food safety, drinking water, sewage disposal, fires, storms, power outages, and other conditions that can create environmental health risks.
During a disaster or utility outage, operators and residents should follow the current Environmental Health instructions applicable to the situation. Food facilities in particular may need to address refrigeration, water, sanitation, and food-safety conditions before normal operations can continue.
Air-quality monitoring is handled separately from EHS. The county states that regional air districts are responsible for monitoring air quality, with the South Coast Air Quality Management District covering the western portion of San Bernardino County and the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District covering the northern portion.
Environmental Health Offices
Environmental Health Services — San Bernardino Office
385 N. Arrowhead Ave, 2nd Floor
San Bernardino, CA 92415-0160
800-442-2283
Environmental Health Services — Rancho Cucamonga Office
8575 Haven Avenue, Suite 130
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
800-442-2283
Environmental Health Services — Hesperia Office
15900 Smoke Tree Street, Suite 131
Hesperia, CA 92345
800-442-2283
Environmental Health Services FAQs
Is there a discount for submitting plan check documents electronically?
Yes. San Bernardino County states that eligible electronic plan-review submittals receive a 5% discount. Electronic plans must be provided in PDF format or through a downloadable file-sharing link, and a completed Application for Plan Review must accompany the submission. Applicants planning a restaurant, food facility, public pool, spa, or another project subject to review can check the county's Plan Check requirements before preparing their package.
What does the county inspect at public lakes and water recreation resorts?
For public water-contact recreation resorts, Environmental Health Services reviews more than routine pool conditions. Inspections can address health and safety concerns at water parks, swimming or wave lagoons, natural or artificial lakes, and water courses. The county also reviews weekly fecal coliform testing results and annual engineering reports for equipment such as diving boards, slides, water flumes, ropes, cargo nets, and swings. Additional requirements are explained on the county's Recreation and Aquatic Facilities page.
Does Environmental Health inspect detention facilities?
Yes. San Bernardino County Environmental Health Services conducts annual inspections of several areas within detention facilities to evaluate sanitary conditions. Reviews include food service and kitchen practices, housing accommodations, laundry accommodations, and facility records. These inspections fall within the county's Housing and Lodging program.
Where can I check vector control inspection records?
Vector control inspection reports can be viewed through the county's Environmental Health customer service system. The county directs users to select “View All Inspections” and search by city or facility name, with permit types such as Poultry Ranch or Riding Academy available for narrowing results. Registered users may also receive notifications when inspection reports for a followed facility are published. Program details are available through the Mosquito and Vector Control page.