(The Center Square) – Spokane might buy hundreds of PFAS-filtering water pitchers as the city, county and their jointly-owned airport face a state mandate to provide clean drinking water to the West Plains.
The Spokane International Airport had used firefighting foams containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, for years before discovering them in groundwater in 2017. Experts often refer to PFAS as “forever chemicals” because they take so long to break down and are known to cause cancer.
The contamination didn’t just affect SIA; it spread to properties across the West Plains, affecting both residential wells and the water that feeds nearby crops. The city of Spokane, Spokane County, and SIA entered into a state-mandated cleanup in January, which also requires supplying clean drinking water.
Last month, the Department of Ecology extended a Feb. 24 deadline for the liable parties to submit a short-term interim action plan to March 20. That plan must include how they will sample private wells and provide bottled water or filter systems to a roughly 30-square-mile area surrounding the airport.
While the details are limited as the city, county and SIA work on a plan, pieces of that are now coming out.
The city posted a bid opportunity on Feb. 27 seeking vendors for up to 600 water pitchers capable of filtering at least 98% of total PFAS and up to 1,200 replacement filters. Bids are due by this Friday.
According to the opportunity, the one-year as-needed contract is capped at $50,000 for the hardware.
Ecology Site Manager Jeremy Schmidt told The Center Square last month that the area Spokane must provide water to includes about 4,000 parcels. Many of those parcels are vacant or already connected to the city’s water system, so the three liable parties are only responsible for the impacted residents.
The Center Square was unable to reach the city’s public works director for an interview, but the county emailed a joint response to questions that The Center Square had sent to both the city and the county.
Communications Manager Martha Lou Wheatley-Billeter wrote that the city, county and SIA are working on a joint action plan, but haven’t finalized all the details yet. However, the available assessor data for parcels not served by the city’s water estimates about 900 properties within the action area, she said.
“It is an estimate that we are working to refine,” Wheatley-Billeter responded in an email last Friday.
When asked about the costs of procurement, distribution, outreach and replacements, among others, as well as what the plan would be if demand exceeds what was included in the city’s bid opportunity, Wheatley-Billeter only responded, “The partners are still developing the plan. We will know more later.”
According to the opportunity, the water pitchers must hold at least 12 cups. It listed Zerowater, Epicwater and Clearly Filtered as brands that offer what the city is looking for. Still, the opportunity noted that any references “to a particular make or model number are intended not to be restrictive.”
Each of those three brands listed in the opportunity sells pitchers that retail for around $100 each.
Wheatley-Billeter wrote that the county is also working to distribute point-of-entry treatment, or POET, filters to larger water users. Unlike the pitchers, POET systems can filter an entire home’s water supply for indoor and outdoor use. The state awarded the county $7.5 million last year to begin this work.
The county solicited bids for vendors to provide and install POET systems, which closed on Jan. 19.
All of the other cleanup and interim drinking water costs will be borne by the city and county, neither of which budgeted for these costs in 2026, so they’re seeking grant funding, Wheatley-Billeter wrote.
“The partners will submit the draft short-term interim action work plan to Ecology by March 20. We will roll out the plan after the work plan is approved,” Wheatley-Billeter wrote.
