Spokane County Commission votes to expedite filters for PFAS-contaminated well users

Spokane County leaders say they hope clean filtered water will flow from contaminated wells on the West Plains by next summer.

In an effort to make that a reality, commissioners voted unanimously Monday to waive the public bidding process to install hundreds of filters in PFAS-tainted wells across the area.

At the tail end of the 2025 Washington State legislative session, state lawmakers appropriated $7.5 million to address the contamination issues in the West Plains groundwater first made public in 2017.

While it is well below half of what Spokane County requested to remediate the “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, Commissioner Al French said the grant provides crucial funding for a long-standing goal of helping his constituents.

In waiving the competitive bidding process usually required for large government projects, those residents will have aid that much sooner, French said.

“We eliminate probably a month, a month and a half out of the timetable to get these systems installed,” French said. “We put public health as a priority.”

The resolution Monday called on county staffers to issue a request for qualifications from interested vendors, and granted contract-signing and decision-making power to CEO Scott Simmons and Heather Arnold, the grants and procurement director.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a group of human-made chemicals used in thousands of products over the decades, including a firefighting foam used at Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane International Airport. High levels of PFAS have since been linked to cancers, heart disease, high cholesterol, thyroid disease, low birth weight and other health problems.

Spokane County will work in conjunction with the Washington State Department of Ecology and the Spokane Regional Health District to install the filtration systems in the most contaminated areas, based on confirmed water quality data, according to a news release from French’s office.

French said the county has hired people to reach out to affected property owners

The implementation of filtration systems for the more than 250 well users affected by the contamination represents a major milestone in remediation efforts, which have moved forward at a staccato pace since the public became aware of the issue nearly a decade ago.

So far, Fairchild has completed a preliminary assessment and is in the final stages of completing an investigation into the impact of PFAS on the base and surrounding area. Once that is completed, a feasibility study would be conducted on the different ways to clean up PFAS contamination, and only then would the cleanup take place.

The feasibility study and remedial investigation were slated to be completed by July 2026, but could be pushed to June 2032 under new guidance from the Department of Defense. The final cleanup could occur even later.

Military bases across the country will see similar delays, as previously reported by The Spokesman-Review.

The county and the city of Spokane are liable for PFAS cleanup at the airport, which is overseen by a board consisting of representatives of both municipalities, according to an August Ecology decision. Under the direction of the department, the Spokane International Airport is also conducting a remedial investigation and feasibility study ahead of any cleanup efforts.

French said West Plains residents are anxious for solutions.

He hopes the soon-to-come filters for well users, as well as the creation of the West Plains PFAS Response Task Force earlier this year, shows that regional leaders are working diligently to help them.

Made up of elected leaders, private citizens and subject matter experts, the task force began holding meetings in August. French serves as the co-chair alongside Spokane Public Health Officer Dr. Francisco Velazquez, and members of the public are invited to attend in-person or virtually.

The next meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Dec. 17, at the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Regional Training Center. More information can be found on the county’s website.

“There’s finally some positive motion to make a difference in the lives of folks in the West Plains that are suffering from PFAS,” French said. “And that’s what gets me excited.”