Another lawsuit filed over Airway Heights' water

AIRWAY HEIGHTS – Contaminated water around Fairchild Air Force Base has generated another lawsuit.

Melissa Commodore filed a $4 million lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense in federal court for the Eastern District of Washington on Dec. 26, alleging she and her son suffered health problems from consuming water found to be contaminated by chemicals used in firefighting foam for years at the base. The contaminants were found in water used by residents in and around Airway Heights in May 2017.

According to the lawsuit, Commodore and her son lived in the Copper Landing Apartments from 2014 – 2016, and “consumed toxic water and complained multiple times to the landlord,” saying there was a strange odor to the water coming from the taps in their apartment.

According to news sources, however, public documents show no detectable levels of the chemicals were indicated from testing at the apartments.

Revelations that the local aquifer had been contaminated by chemicals possibly emanating from Fairchild led to the Air Force handing out bottled water to some residents until filtration systems could be installed. It also led to the city of Airway Heights establishing an agreement with the city of Spokane to set up an intertie to supply water, an agreement that was extended two additional years in 2018.

According to news reports, the Air Force had tested 368 wells through November 2018, 86 of which were found to have contamination levels for PFASs and PFOAs above the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s official limit of 70 parts per trillion. Treatment methods were installed at 58 of those affected wells.

In April 2018, a federal class-action lawsuit was filed against the manufacturers of the firefighting foam on behalf of nearly 100 people who live near the base. Another lawsuit was filed in November 2018 in U.S. District Court by three local landowners against the federal government, alleging officials at Fairchild used the fire retardant irresponsibly and failed to warn neighbors of its “inherently dangerous properties.”

In May 2019, the city of Airway Heights sent a letter to the Air Force and the Department of Defense demanding they pay nearly $47 million in damages as a result of the 2017 contamination to the city’s water supply. Water tested at three city wells in May 2017 found concentrations of PFOA and PFOS between 1,400 – 1,500 parts per trillion – more than 20 times higher than EPA limits.

Besides construction of the intertie with Spokane, the largest part of the notice – about $45.6 million – would go towards replacement of the entire Airway Heights water system.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].