Underground reservoir also in the works at site north of the city on 70 acres recently acquired from Spokane County
By RYAN LANCASTER
Staff Reporter
The city of Airway Heights is seeking alternative water sources as the state Department of Ecology continues to push for the slowdown, and eventual shutdown, of the city's Parkwest well.
Ecology's eastern region water resources manager Keith Stoffel said at Ecology's request the well is already drawing water at a reduced rate – about 50 percent of what the city's water rights allow – but because water levels in the vicinity of the well are still declining, the department is asking the city to phase out its use.
“If they were to pump at full capacity the water table in that area drops off significantly,” Stoffel said. “Right now we're trying to work out how they can cut that level of use even further and eventually stop using (Parkwest).”
The well is located near Craig Road, a critical corridor of underground water also tapped by municipal Four Lakes and Medical Lake wells, along with numerous private wells. As the newest water rights holder in the vicinity, the Airway Heights well is the first to go if water resources dwindle.
In 2002 Ecology authorized a permit allowing the city to pump 1,400 gallons per minute from the well, which the city had purchased from Parkwest Properties and plumbed into the city system the previous year. According to information provided by Ecology, the permit provides that “if senior water right holders are adversely affected, the pumping from this point of withdrawal may be reduced or terminated during the time period of this authorization.”
The city has questioned whether the blame for falling water levels can be conclusively traced back to Parkwest, but Ecology officials point to data that shows well levels in the Craig Road area immediately dropped off after Parkwest pumping began and have since continued to decline. For years private well owners in the Craig Road area have also complained of declining well levels and over the past decade the city has paid to deepen or otherwise develop dozens of these wells, the latest as recently as last month.
Airway Heights City Manager Albert Tripp is quick to clarify that the city was never required to refurbish the wells, but did so in an effort to be good neighbors. “There was never a definitive link (between dropping well levels and Parkwest), but we recognized that we wanted to be a partner with this issue,” Tripp said.
Stoffel said Ecology has had a number of productive meetings with the city and is close to reaching an agreement on shutting the well down. He was unable to give a specific deadline but said he would like to see pumping stop within the next month. Tripp said he could discuss the city's position on the matter, but Airway Heights City Council has held at least two executive sessions to discuss the issue over the past few months.
The prospect that Airway Heights may soon be one well down is one reason the city is now moving toward construction of a new well far from the Craig Road corridor. Last month City Council authorized a contract with Century West Engineering for well design north of the city on Deno Road. Tripp said it's still unknown exactly where the drilling might take place or what the well's production levels will be, but crews are set to start digging in late spring or summer.
Also next summer, a $2.6 million underground reservoir will be constructed on the 70 acre parcel recently acquired from Spokane County near the Raceway Park. Tripp said the reservoir will store from 1 to 2 million gallons of reclaimed water from the city's wastewater treatment facility, scheduled for completion later this year.
Preliminary engineering shows the site would support water percolation into the aquifer through a 30-acre network of buried pipes. To make certain that water isn't going to drain off into the Spokane River the city has submitted a proposal for $100,000 in Ecology funding to study water flows within a paleochannel that runs beneath the city.
Another study is currently being carried out by Century West on behalf of the city to look at how the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, which abuts the city's northeastern edge, interacts with the hydrogeology of the surrounding area. Tripp said that study should be finished within the next two months and will help with planning for the reservoir and future water resource development.
Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].
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