The goal of the Snohomish Health District Drinking Water Program is the prevention of communicable disease
and illness associated with drinking water from small public water systems and individual wells. The regulations
for Snohomish County include the Snohomish Health District Sanitary Code, Chapter 9, the Group B Public Water Systems,
Chapter 246-291 WAC, and the Minimum Standards for Construction and Maintenance of Wells, Chapter 173-160 WAC.
The water in your home comes from one of four different source types:
Group A water systems – serve 15
or more residential connections or 25 or more people for 60 days per year. The Washington State Department of Health has total
jurisdiction over these systems.
Two-party well systems –
serve two residential connections. The Health District regulates these systems at the time of building permit issuance only.
Individual/private wells – serve a single residential connection. The
Health District regulates these systems at the time of building permit issuance only.
The Water Section performs a wide variety of activities to carry out water system regulatory oversight:
Operational checks of existing systems (for property sale/refinance)
Technical support services for existing small water systems and individual wells
The SHD has a certified water distribution manager on staff that can help small public and individual water system operators troubleshoot water quality problems that they may have
with their systems. Contact Mike Donor at (425) 339-5250 or e-mail
Inspection for adequacy of water supply for new construction
The Snohomish Health District reviews submitted information regarding location, construction, and testing of completed wells to demonstrate
compliance with the Growth Management Act.
Inspection of well seal construction and well decommissioning
The Health District was delegated by the Department of Ecology in accordance with RCW 18.104.043,
the responsibility of inspecting well sealing, well decommissioning and well tagging for all drinking water wells constructed or decommissioned
in Snohomish County.
Complaint investigation
If you would like to report a complaint or problem with a private well or small public water system, call the Water and Wastewater
section at (425) 339-5250.
Your contact information will be collected but kept confidential. An SHD sanitarian will investigate the report and take appropriate
action. For more information regarding SHD proceedings in these matters call (425) 339-5250 or e-mail the section and a sanitarian will reply.
The person filing the complaint will receive a reply regarding the situation after the initial investigation is complete.
Sanitarians available daily at our front desk to answer questions
There are numerous documents available at our front counter. Many of them are accessible on the resource page of our website but we
don’t have electronic files for many of our applications. If you don’t find what you are looking for on the website, stop by or call
the sanitarian at the front counter to check if we have what you are looking for at the office.
