There are a variety of activities going on related to PFAS on Spokane's West Plains, from supplying homes with clean water to tracking the pollutants. We asked Erika Beresovoy, the public involvement coordinator from the Department of Ecology’s toxics cleanup program, to help us keep track of that activity. Ecology is the regulatory agency with oversight over PFAS-related issues.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Erika Beresovoy: At Fairchild, they've been working on it since 2017. They have provided whole house treatment systems to 92 highly impacted homes in their monitoring area and they're working on seven more. They will continue testing wells in the area and they're expanding their sampling area in August 2028. That's in response to the EPA setting the drinking water standards for PFAS.
DN: Fairchild has a public committee or at least a committee that people can monitor to understand what's going on at Fairchild. Is that correct?
EB: Correct. That's the Restoration Advisory Board and they have public meetings. They had one back in April, and the next one isn't scheduled, but I believe it'll be in fall or winter.
DN: Tell me a little bit about what Ecology has determined in terms of the responsible parties, Spokane city and county.
EB: We have what we're calling the Emergency Interim Action Area. It's the area that we believe is separate from contamination that is from Fairchild. We have different data sources that have shown us, kind of delineated that area. It'll never be perfect, but it's our best judgment right now. Our main focus is getting clean water for those people that are north and east of the airport. Last weekend, the city and the county and the airport were at the waste-to-energy plant, handing out PFAS water filter pitchers and also food-grade water containers that people can use at the Garden Springs fill station.
DN: What's Ecology's authority over not only the city and county, but also Spokane International Airport? Are you kind of the overseer of all that?
EB: We are. Washington's law is the Model Toxics Control Act and it's Ecology's job to put that regulation into play. In 2023, we were given results that showed that the airport had found PFAS in the groundwater on their property. And so, at that point in time, we started the cleanup process.
DN: The city and the county have submitted their plans for proceeding there. Can you tell me a little bit more about the public comment period for that? And you've got a public meeting coming up in a few weeks. Is that correct?
EB: That is correct. We have a public comment period on the short-term plan to provide safe water. Basically, they've already started implementing that plan because we are kind of in an emergency state to get people clean water as quickly as possible. We do have a public meeting on June 16 at 6 p.m. That'll be at the Shriners Event Center. We'll be talking more about the short-term work plan. We'll provide an update on the investigation, answer people's questions, and people can submit written comments at that time.
DN: After the public comment period ends at the end of June, what happens then?
EB: We review everyone's comments and we respond to them. And then, we post our response to comments and share it with the responsible parties. We really do want to know how people feel that this initial effort is going and maybe we can implement things that would improve the process.
DN: Can Ecology tweak those plans and say, it's great here, but it's not sufficient there?
EB: We did do that initially. The document, which is called the Short-Term Interim Action Work Plan, went through some review cycles and we did provide comments. Some of those were implemented in the document and some were not. So, we're trying to work through that and get the best outcome for everyone.
DN: What sorts of things are you hearing right now from folks who are up there?
EB: Some of the main concerns have been people wanting water for all of the uses that they would normally do at their home. Many of these are rural properties, so people want clean water for gardening. They want it for their livestock. They want it for their pets. It's not just about drinking water.
DN: Do you sense that there's the sense of frustration by people out there maybe is lightening up a little bit now that action is being taken by some of the responsible parties (such as making clean drinking water available)?
EB: I think that people are probably relieved to see something happening, but there is still angst over those same things because we don't have clear answers yet or a clear timeline of when people are going to be made whole, as a lot of them put it.
DN: There's also a fire station up there that has had some PFAS contamination. What can you tell us about that?
EB: We did some soil sampling out there and we're planning some more soil sampling. We did some groundwater sampling, which let us know that there was an issue we thought was coming from the fire station itself. That's when we listed them as a cleanup site. But yeah, we're getting the contract done to do some soil sampling there. So hopefully we can maybe figure out a hot spot in the soil or something and get that removed.
DN: Do you anticipate this is going to be a long-term sort of thing, that Ecology will be involved in this for years rather than just months?
EB: Absolutely. All cleanups generally take years, and PFAS is so long-lasting in the environment that this will definitely take some time.
DN: What is Ecology learning from other parts of the country that are also dealing with PFAS? Is this one of these things that we can actually learn from each other about what works here and what doesn't work there?
EB: Absolutely. Many states are working on different topics, especially gardening and how different plants uptake PFAS and also animals and livestock that people raise so that they can eat them and how that gets into the meat and the vegetables. The Washington Department of Health, we partner with them closely on all these issues and they are actually working on that stuff. And they have taken samples of livestock and eggs out in the West Plains. They are looking for funding to do also some home-raised vegetables and fruits testing.
