Airway Heights seeks water costs

The city of Airway Heights sent a letter to the United States Air Force and the United States Department of Defense Thursday, May 2, demanding they pay nearly $47 million in damages as the result of the 2017 contamination of the city’s water supply by Fairchild Air Force Base.

According to the letter, the city and the Air Force are in agreement that Air Force activities contributed to PFOA and PFAS contamination via firefighting foam, which the city believes makes the Air Force liable for damages for “trespass, nuisance and negligence.”

In May 2017, contaminates were found in three city wells at concentrations between 1,400 and 1,500 parts per trillion, more than 20 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s health advisory level of 70 ppt. The letter is the city’s notice and demand for payment of claims and a prerequisite to pursue future litigation — a path Airway Heights attorney Stanley Schwartz called “likely.”

The $46,965,615.67 sought includes payment for intertie construction in 2017 and 2018, staff overtime spent dealing with the issue and the costs associated with flushing the system. The letter details specific costs incurred by the city relating to contamination, including $26,029 informing the public, $74,132 delivering bulk water in tankard trucks to local businesses and $169,070 in professional services to address contamination issues, such as responding to the state Department of Health, coordinating with Fairchild personnel and other administrative actions.

One of the largest costs outlined in the notice — about $45.6 million worth — is the replacement of the entire Airway Heights water system, which serves about 7,000 people. According to the letter, there is no indication the granular activated carbon (GAC) treatment the Air Force is currently using to filter contaminated wells will eliminate PFAS in any given period of time, meaning the city “anticipates that it would be necessary to conduct GAC treatment indefinitely.”

The Air Force has installed these filtration systems in several private wells around the region, but required homeowners to sign a waiver authorizing the removal of the system after five years.

The Army Corps of Engineers is studying potential solutions to the contamination, including GAC treatment, but the letter from the city indicates officials believe it would be best to overhaul Airway Heights’ system, which would require acquiring water rights from the Spokane Valley Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer of the same capacity as the city’s damaged water rights and the construction of several new wells.

Schwartz said city leaders “are not sure it (treatment via filtration) is feasible for the future,” but are hopeful they will be able to negotiate a solution. Schwartz noted this is problem is a national issue not unique to the West Plains.

The notice calls replacing the city’s water source “the only permanent remedy available to restore the city’s water to its pre-contamination state” and says Airway Heights “should not have to bear the costs of a permanent solution.”

Schwartz noted at a May 6 Airway Heights City Council meeting that Fairchild Air Force Base gets its water from the Spokane Valley Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer as well.

The city’s current agreement with the Air Force states the Air Force will pay the costs the city incurs to obtain alternative drinking water from Spokane provided those costs don’t exceed $687,924. Thus far under this agreement, the Air Force has paid Airway Heights $669,735.

Schwartz said the Air Force is conducting a study seeking “reasonable solutions” to the contamination. The study will likely need to be completed before the city’s claim can be resolved and that process could take up to three years, he said.

Fairchild Air Force Base’s Public Affairs Office did not respond to requests for comment by press time. A representative from the Air Force Civil Engineers Center in San Antonio, Texas, which has been overseeing contaminate testing in the West Plains, could not be reached for comment.

Shannen Talbot can be reached by [email protected].