Environmental Health

Duties

The Environmental Health Division of the Skokie Health Department is responsible for the enforcement of the Village's environmental health codes.

Registered sanitarians inspect local restaurants, retail food establishments, nursing homes, day care centers, and day care homes. The Division also responds to complaints of conditions creating a public nuisance or a health hazard. If a problem is identified, the sanitarians work with the establishment or property owner to rectify the situation in a non-confrontational manner. Environmental Health staff can issue citations in those situations where there is a recurring problem or non-compliance.

Rat Control

Learn more about controlling rats in Skokie.

Water Quality

The Skokie Water Distribution System sends an average of 7.3 million gallons a day (MGD) of safe drinking water to residential and commercial customers. Skokie residents can be confident that every gallon, every glass of their drinking water exceeds the federal standards set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).

Skokie’s water is purchased from the City of Evanston.  The Evanston Water Treatment Plant is located on the shores of Lake Michigan, one of the world's most valuable sources of fresh surface water.  The treatment facility has the capacity to supply up to 108 (MGD) of pure drinking water.   Evanston’s facility is municipally owned and operated and in addition to serving the residents of Evanston, Evanston also supplies water to the Village of Skokie, the Northwest Water Commission which is comprised of the communities of Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Des Plaines, Palatine and Wheeling, and the Morton Grove Niles Water Commission.  

View the Village of Skokie’s 2022 Water Quality Report (PDF). This Water Quality Report is intended to provide you with important information about your drinking water and the efforts made by the City of Evanston & Village of Skokie to provide safe drinking water.  In 2021, as in past years, your tap water has met all United States Environmental Protection (USEPA) and State of Illinois drinking water health standards and has had no violations to report.  

In 2021, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) tested the City of Evanston’s water system for compounds known as Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) as part of a statewide investigation of community water supplies. Illinois EPA testing determined that one PFAS chemical was detected in the drinking water just above the Illinois EPA Health-Based Guidance Level of 2.0 ppt for PFOA.  As a frame of reference, one part per trillion is roughly the equivalent of one drop in 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The levels detected for PFOA were 2.2 ppt (9/2/2021), 2.3 ppt (11/16/2021), and 2.2 ppt (11/16/2021). For additional information on Evanston’s PFAS testing visit https://www.cityofevanston.org/government/departments/public-works/public-outreach/historical-pfsa-results. 

In addition to the 184 compounds tested regularly by the City of Evanston at their water treatment facility, the Village of Skokie Health and Human Services’ Environmental Health Division also collects 72+ water samples per month from various locations throughout the Village for analysis for coliform bacteria, lead, pH, phosphates and copper.
 
 If you feel there may be a problem with your water, please contact the Skokie Health and Human Services Environmental Health Division at env.health@skokie.org  or 847.933.8484.