This week marks a special occasion as Registered Environmental Health Specialist Week unfolds, and in the spotlight is Wake County's own Noelle Spence. With a history of confronting public health challenges head-on, Ms. Spence, who joined the Wake County team as an Environmental Consultant in 2021, has already ascended the ranks. According to Wake County's announcement, by 2022 she was promoted to Environmental Health Manager. Steering a team that shepherds clients through the complex waters of wastewater and groundwater applications, she plays a pivotal role within the larger Onsite Water Protection framework.
Dedicated to her craft, Spence's days are a patchwork of client interactions, public educational outreach on wastewater systems, and processing applications. With occasional fieldwork including system examinations and swimming pool inspections, her commitment to service becomes evident when she explained to Wake County, “I really like to help people and my motivation to come to work each day is to provide the best customer service to the residents of Wake County and my internal clients.”
Prior to her tenure at Wake County, Spence honed her expertise across three other public health departments. Her past experiences include a broad spectrum of public health work, from conducting site and soil evaluations to inspecting wastewater system installations. Holding a bachelor’s degree from Sonoma State University and a Master of Public Health from Oregon State University, her academic journey also showcases a proactive engagement with community health. She wrote a grant at Oregon State which secured funding for groundwater well sampling and water safety education activities funded by the Oregon Health Authority.
“Properly permitting wastewater systems and groundwater wells is an important job,” Spence stated, according to Wake County. With some 80,000 wastewater systems serving about 200,000 residents in her jurisdiction, explaining the intricacies to those unfamiliar can be a daunting task—a challenge she takes on with relish. Spence finds enjoyment in guiding clients through the process of understanding their wastewater systems.
When the official workday winds down, Spence is not one to remain idle. As a figure deeply interwoven with the fabric of her community's environmental health, her passion flows into her personal life where cooking, baking, and travel reign supreme. And, nowhere is her love for nature more manifest than in the simple pleasure she finds hiking alongside her dogs and fiancé, revelling in the bounty of the natural world, as she divulged to Wake County.
