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Oakland County schedules public hearing on sanitary code revisions for body art and well protections
Summary
County health staff proposed revisions to Sanitary Code Article 7 (body art) and Article 10 (well and borehole construction/aquifer protection), including annual practitioner permits, arsenic testing for certain wells, and new monitoring for small public well systems; a public hearing was set for Sept. 14.
Oakland County Health Division staff presented proposed updates to the county sanitary code that would revise Article 7 (body art) and Article 10 (well and borehole construction and aquifer protection). The committee approved moving the items forward to a required public hearing on Sept. 14 at 6:00 p.m. in the Oakland County Board of Commissioners Auditorium.
Staff said the Michigan Public Health Code authorizes local health departments to adopt local sanitary codes and that Oakland County’s sanitary code dates to 1950 and is periodically updated. Key proposed changes to Article 7 would align county body art facility license timing with the state (one-year licenses that expire at year-end) and require practitioner permits to be renewed annually (the current code previously treated practitioner permits as not expiring).
Article 10 revisions are broader and technical, staff said, and aim to protect groundwater and drinking water supplies. Changes noted in the presentation include adding an arsenic testing requirement for some drinking water wells, expanding the county’s ability to follow up on code violations, and establishing an ongoing monitoring and annual bacteriological and nitrate sampling program for previously unregulated small public well systems (type 3 supplies). Staff estimated about 375 such supplies exist in the county and said the annual sampling requirement would have limited expense for operators because the county performs partial chemical and bacteriological analyses in its lab.
Commissioners asked how the changes would affect septic systems; staff explained septic siting and isolation distances are regulated under a different article (Article 3) and said Article 10 would address isolation distances between wells and potential contamination sources. Staff emphasized the changes are intended to reflect best public health practices and state guidance.
The committee approved forwarding the proposed revisions to a public hearing and publication notice had been posted in the Oakland Press, staff said.
