Onsite Resource Specialist; Natural Resource Specialist – Environmental Health Specialist​/Natural Resource

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality strives to build and sustain an inclusive and equitable environment that embraces and values diversity. Employees at all levels of the agency work together to foster fairness, equity, inclusion, and belonging. We strive to be a workplace where we share our authentic identities, while advancing our individual professional goals, and while collaborating to protect, preserve, and enhance the environment for current and future generations.

We celebrate and appreciate diversity, champion equity, and treat each other with respect and dignity.

Are you passionate about preserving, enhancing, and protecting Oregon’s environment? If so, please consider a career with the State of Oregon at the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). At DEQ, employees have the opportunity to work with a dynamic and supportive team of mission-focused individuals tasked with maintaining, restoring, and enhancing the quality of Oregon’s air, land, and water.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has a full-time opportunity available for an Onsite Resource Specialist (Natural Resource Specialist 3 – Environmental Health Specialist / Natural Resource Specialist 3 – Underfill) in Medford, Oregon.

Please consider joining an innovative team, and work to advance our agency’s mission to protect and improve Oregon’s environmental quality.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is the primary regulatory agency of the government of the U.S. State of Oregon responsible for protecting and enhancing the state's natural resources.

The Water Quality Division’s mission is to protect and improve Oregon's water quality. Protecting Oregon's rivers, lakes, streams, and groundwater quality keeps these waters safe for a multitude of beneficial uses such as drinking water, fish habitat, recreation, and irrigation. This is accomplished by developing and implementing water quality standards and clean water plans; regulating sewage treatment systems, industrial dischargers, and individual onsite septic systems;

collecting and evaluating water quality data; providing grants and technical assistance to reduce non-point pollution sources; and providing loans to communities to build treatment facilities.

Over 30% of Oregonians dispose of wastewater from their homes and businesses through the use of septic systems. The siting, design, installation, and ongoing operation and maintenance of septic systems, as well as sewage disposal service licensing, are regulated through the Onsite Wastewater Management Program. Without this oversight, septic systems can fail or malfunction and sewage may be disposed of improperly, thus polluting Oregon’s land and waterways with raw sewage and creating public health hazards.

The Onsite Wastewater Management Program (septic systems) is administered through intergovernmentalagreementsfor 33counties andisdirectlyadministeredby DEQ in3counties. This position will support Jackson, Josephine, and Curry Counties.

For a visual representation of DEQ’s offices and their locations, view our DEQ Offices and Vehicle Inspection Testing Stations map.

You will serve as an Onsite Wastewater Management Program technical expert in the evaluation, inspection, and permitting of onsite septic systems in Jackson, Josephine, and Curry Counties. Hundreds of onsite applications are submitted to the Medford office each year from individual homeowners, small businesses, and licensed installers. In addition to these applications, the Medford office receives technical questions from the public regarding the program’s requirements and the care and maintenance of septic systems.

The office also receives complaints regarding potential septic system violations, some of which can lead to enforcement actions. In addition, local interested parties occasionally request the assistance of the local onsite technical expert to attend meetings and present information.

The opportunity to work in a productive and creative environment where no two days are ever the same! DEQ cares deeply about employee wellness and benefits. We offer a competitive benefits…