West Plains PFAS Task Force

A home filters clean water project of Spokane County

This new interagency organization is advisory only, not a decision-making body. Therefore, the rules of “Public Comment”, meeting notification, and record-keeping practiced by government boards and commissions do not apply. How then, will this group be responsive to citizens and other organizations? To be determined. The Coalition will do all we can to connect citizens into this work as it unfolds, and to supplement the County’s messaging.

Official PFAS Task Force Page

Community Representatives

Commissioner French named 4 volunteer community representatives. Our assignment is to represent citizen needs and suggestions.

Jerry Goertz, Dmjgo1@gmail.com
John Hancock, hancock@westplainsater.org
Reid Oakes, Reid.oakes@gmail.com
Craig Volosing, cdvolosing@gmail.com

Scope of Work

The health and safety of the residents of Spokane County and specifically the residents of the West Plains is the priority of this Taskforce. With the recent revelation of the presence of PFAS in the aquifer there is a heighten level of concern regarding the quality of the drinking water in the aquifer and its impacts on the West Plains residents. The goal of this taskforce is to identify and recommend mitigation measures that provide clean drinking water to affected properties. The Taskforce shall be an Advisory Body to the Spokane Board of County Commissioners, Cities of Spokane, Airway Heights, Medical Lake and Cheney as well as the Washington State Department of Ecology, State and Federal legislators, State and Federal Agencies.

Areas of Focus

  1. Explore the various filtration systems, present and/or under development, for PFAS removal, efficiency and cost.
  2. Identify funding sources for filtration systems to include in-house or Point of EntryTreatment (POET) systems to be installed outside of the Fairchild impact area funding project. Work with partnering agencies to develop requests in the pursuit of grant funding.
  3. Explore all solutions for a clean and durable water supply to currently impacted and future residents.
  4. Education for the operation and maintenance of installed filtration systems and filters.

Ground Rules

  • All meetings will be facilitated by co-chairs Commissioner French and Dr. Frank Velazquez
  • Participation and public comment are limited to the Membership Invite List, or designee.
  • Everyone is welcome to attend, but only those on the Membership Invite List, at the table or on zoom, will be speaking.
  • Those at the table/zoom need to come prepared to speak.
  • This Task Force is not authorized to act on behalf of any legislative body and shall serve as an Advisory Body to the agencies listed above.

The Dept. of Commerce and a managing local agency will each keep 10% of the $7.5 million legislative appropriation, leaving a Balance for Distribution (the program expense available) of $6,070,950, to be spent by June 30, 2026.

The Task Force discussed and agreed on the urgency of this project: to install state-of-the-art whole-house PFAS filters in qualifying homes as quickly as possible and to maximize the potential for additional legislative funding. Though free testing was not named in the legislative proposal, there was general agreement that homes not yet tested should be given this opportunity.

To join the mailing list for Task Force notifications, send a message to Viktoria Lyfar at vlyfar@spokanecounty.gov
or call ‭(509) 477-2265.