Country Dream Befouled Well Water Poisoned Animals, Sickened Family On Farm Near Marshall

Jim and Jackie McGowan wanted a little piece of heaven for their family in the pine forest southwest of Spokane.

Instead, they got a polluted well, scores of dead animals and a lingering array of illnesses.

“This was supposed to be our dream home,” Jim McGowan said. “It’s been hell.”

The McGowans fear they settled on 30 acres of land that was polluted by illegal dumping along the road near their home.

Investigators haven’t ruled out the possibility the McGowan’s well was contaminated by animal waste, surface runoff or raw sewage from their septic tank.

State and county health officials gathered samples of soil and water this week to figure out what’s wrong.

Results are expected next week, said Jeff Dill, the spill response supervisor for the state Department of Ecology.

The problems started last year when the McGowans moved their six children and a plethora of animals to the small ranch on Sherman Road near Marshall.

“We kind of got hit like a bomb,” Jackie McGowan said.

Goats, pigs, chickens, geese, ducks and rabbits started dying. Out of nearly 1,000 domestic animals - mostly poultry - half are now gone, she said.

The children started getting sick, and are still troubled with mysterious rashes and waves of nausea.

Eight-year-old Kelley was in and out of the hospital for two weeks this winter, and suffered a partially collapsed lung. She’s home now, but has lost weight and is still feeling ill, Jackie McGowan said.

Giardiasis is believed to have caused some of the illnesses, she said.

Giardia is a protozoan microbe commonly spread by animals to surface water.

When the problems first arose, the McGowans sought help. Experts from Washington State University tested their well water and found toxic blue-green algae as well as protozoans, Jackie McGowan said.

The acreage lies in a natural draw along the hillside south of Marshall Creek. Runoff has created small marshy areas above the home, and a pond near the chicken coop and geese pens.

The McGowans raise the animals both for pets and supplemental income.

They’ve been hauling in drinking water since the pollution was discovered in December. They can’t take showers because the water makes their skin burn, they said.

Dill said the McGowans have what’s known as a “bootleg well,” meaning it was not sunk in accordance with modern health codes.

The well is only about 60 feet deep, and the casing below the surface of the ground apparently is cracked, he said.

In addition, their septic sewage system is not functioning.

Jackie McGowan said the drain field backed up when she did her first load of laundry after moving into the home last summer.

Dill said contaminated surface water or seepage from the septic tank may have gotten into the well.

The McGowans believe a bare patch of land up the hill behind their house may hold another answer to the riddle.

The brown muddy spot is near Sherman Road and could have been contaminated by someone illegally dumping chemicals, Jackie McGowan said.

She believes chemicals might have washed down the hill and seeped into their well.

For now, the family is staying put, awaiting test results. But their country dream has turned into a nightmare.

“We just want to get well and get out of here,” Jackie McGowan said.

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