To better serve Nebraskans and the regulated community, the 2021 Nebraska Legislature passed a bill transferring several EPA state-delegated environmental health programs from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE). This action improves state program collaboration and maximizes federal and state resources.

Legislative Bill 148 created an Environmental Safety Program, transferred Safe Drinking Water Programs, and moved the Water Well Standards Program to NDEE. On July 1, 2021, over 40 DHHS teammates, who had been working at NDEE under a written agreement, officially became part of NDEE’s team.

It was a move years in the making. The idea of transferring these former DHHS programs has existed since the ‘90s, and formal discussions began in 2015. Through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), NDEE began supervising and providing a workspace for the DHHS employees in 2017. NDEE began administering the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and providing cross-training to DHHS and NDEE staff on Drinking Water and Clean Water programs.

An MOA modification in 2018 moved responsibility of administering the Water Well Standards and Contractors’ Practice Act and relevant statutes, from DHHS to NDEE. A modification in 2019 brought in five other areas: swimming pools, well and septic loan evaluation, mobile home parks, recreation camps and food inspections.

In 2017, the agencies established objectives to measure the transfer’s effectiveness.

• Cross-training inspection staff to be able to conduct both water and wastewater inspections, including training to get appropriate certifications in wastewater and wells.
• Cross-training water and wastewater engineering staff.
• Building resilience to retirements and turnover.
• Strengthening the communication and marketing of the State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs.
• Evaluating field office needs and opportunities to be more efficient.
• Resizing the Drinking Water Monitoring and Compliance team.

Program collaboration and communication have realized process improvements in work efforts. For example, the average number of days to issue a wastewater construction permit in 2017 was 24 days; in 2020 the average was 14.6 days. For drinking water construction permits in 2017, the average was 20.3 days; in 2020 the average was also 14.6 days.

The collaboration has provided a more holistic approach to community needs. This was valuable, for example, during statewide floods in 2019, when teammates more effectively served impacted areas since they were cross trained in drinking water and wastewater programs.

Moving forward, NDEE will continue to determine solutions for optimal customer service. The programs plan to establish more efficient systems for licensure and renewals for the water well operators, water well contractors, and swimming pool operators to make them run more efficiently.