Read the full article by Isabella Breda (The Seattle Times)
“Drinking water testing will soon be available for about 300 private and shared wells in the West Plains near Spokane.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Ecology announced Wednesday residents on private wells or water systems that serve fewer than 15 connections and fewer than 25 people per day in the northeast West Plains are eligible to sign up for no-cost testing.
The sampling is scheduled to begin March 4 and, according to a news release, ‘comes in response to community concerns’ about drinking water contaminated with the chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS.
In 2017, Fairchild Air Force Base acknowledged its responsibility for widespread drinking water contamination in Airway Heights, to the northeast, leading the Department of Defense to designate a testing zone and to test some residents’ wells. But some residents living outside of the initial testing area drawn up by the Air Force later discovered their wells were contaminated.” …