Spokane County Commissioner Al French, who represents the West Plains, has been presenting a plan that he purports will solve the issue of PFAS contamination of wells, but those who have heard his plan are skeptical.
In short, French’s plan calls for taking eight million gallons of water a day from the Spokane River and piping it to every home on the West Plains. According to a PowerPoint presentation prepared by French, the Spokane Valley Water Reclamation Center produces 8 million gallons of treated wastewater per day that is dumped into the Spokane River. He proposes then removing that 8 million gallons per day at a yet to be built well site in the Seven Mile area and then piping it to the West Plains.
Though testing is still underway, many wells in the area of Fairchild Air Force Base and the Spokane International Airport have tested positive for chemicals used in aircraft firefighting foam for decades.
John Hancock, president of the West Plains Water Coalition, said French was at a meeting in April between the Friends of Palisades and the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office focused on crime in the neighborhood when neighbors began asking French about the PFAS issue. French then scheduled a follow-up meeting to discuss PFAS contamination on April 23, but only the Friends of Palisades and Water Coalition members were invited, Hancock said.
Hancock said the plan to distribute municipal water on the West Plains isn’t a new idea. The City of Airway Heights actually proposed pumping a million gallons of water a day from the Spokane River two years ago, but the Department of Ecology has yet to officially respond to the plan, he said.
To say that he and the nearly 40 others at the meeting were skeptical about French’s plan would be putting it mildly, Hancock said. “The biggest laugh of the evening from the audience was when he said he’d have it done by next summer,” he said. “All these alphabet agencies would have to be in on Al’s plan. There are a lot of problems with the plan that he hasn’t explained.”
Hancock said he finds it notable that French has been on the Spokane International Airport board of directors for years, during the time when the airport actively hid the results from PFAS testing in 2017 that showed high contamination in some areas of airport property. French is currently running for re-election to his commissioner seat. “To me, it’s about candidate Al covering up for commissioner Al,” Hancock said.
French did not appear to be speaking as a County commissioner during his presentation, Hancock said. “It was clear that it was candidate Al speaking, not commissioner Al,” he said.
Mary Kuney, chair of the board of county commissioners, said she has not seen French’s presentation and it is not something that has been discussed or approved by the county commissioners as a group. French did not respond to several requests for comment.
Chad Pritchard, an environmental and geotechnical geologist and professor at Eastern Washington University, has been studying PFAS contamination on the West Plains for years, including how the underground water in the area flows.
Pritchard attended the meeting where French presented his plan and said he sees several problems with it. First is the feasibility of withdrawing eight million gallons of water daily from the Spokane River, which will impact river flows, particularly in the summer. Second is whether or not it is possible to get the water rights to that much water, he said.
“It’s a tricky situation trying to get those water rights,” he said. “They discharge to the Spokane River and Al French is saying that they have rights to the water because they’re putting it in.”
Pritchard said the geology of the West Plains will make it nearly impossible to pipe water to every home. “That I don’t believe would ever happen,” he said. “There’s too much basalt and it would be too expensive.”
The Washington State Department of Ecology recently tested hundreds of private wells located outside the testing area set up by Fairchild. Fifty-six percent of the wells, 172 of the 307 tested, had levels of PFAS above drinking water limits. Another 44 wells (14 percent) had PFAS contamination below the drinking water limits. Another 91 wells had no contamination.
Ecology has contracted with Culligan of Spokane to provide free drinking water to homes with PFAS contamination.
The levels of PFAS that are acceptable in drinking water has also changed. On April 10, the Environmental Protection Agency set new limits for six types of PFAS chemicals. Allowable levels for PFOA and PFOS are four parts per trillion and the allowable levels of PFHxS, PFNA and HFPO-DA are 10 parts per trillion. Those limits are much lower than the previous limits and come after continuing research points to the chemicals causing some types of cancer, thyroid issues, blood pressure problems and other health effects.
Hancock said he’s grateful for the response by Ecology, including providing free drinking water. “These results for homeowners in the airport PFAS plume are a huge step forward in understanding the extent of contamination in the northeast portion of the West Plains,” he said. “For many people, it’s been unimaginable that groundwater pollution could travel so far.”
Homeowners who would like to submit their well test results can do so by emailing WestPlainsPFAS@ecy.wa.gov. Those who have contaminated water will receive free water and/or a point-of-use filtration system capable of removing PFAS contamination. Ecology will host a public meeting along with representatives from the EPA on May 21 to discuss the water sampling results. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the HUB, located at 12703 E. 14th Ave. in Airway Heights.
