PFAS in West Plains private wells

If you have a private well, you can collect a water sample and pay a lab for testing. The accredited lab closest to the West Plains that analyzes for PFAS is Anatek Labs in Spokane. Well sample results are not valid if they are given on-the-spot during a visit to your home from a salesperson.

If you are in the airport interim action area or Fairchild's monitoring area (see the map above), you will be sampled at no cost to you.

If another opportunity for no-cost sampling becomes available for residents outside these areas, we will announce it through our West Plains PFAS updates email list. You can Subscribe online or email WestPlainsPFAS@ecy.wa.gov and request to join.

In addition to working with Department of Health and the Spokane County PFAS Response Task Force to provide safe water to those who need it, well sampling results provide the agencies with necessary data to help inform future cleanup efforts. We added all the results to the model of PFAS contamination in the West Plains created through our area-wide groundwater investigation grant with the City of Medical Lake while the study was ongoing.

A sampling event is a snapshot in time. Because contamination and groundwater are constantly moving, we cannot know future levels at any location based on one sample.

If you purchase a filtration system, you can learn more about selecting one that removes PFAS on Department of Health’s PFAS in Household Drinking Water page. 

Ecology doesn’t endorse any specific systems. You must ensure filter systems have been independently tested and certified by a third party, like NSF.

You may be visited by people selling filtration systems. Here are some things to keep in mind if a salesperson is offering you free sampling and trying to sell you a filtration system:

• Well sample results are not valid if they are given during the first visit. Samples must be analyzed by an accredited lab using EPA Method 533 or 1633.
• No company has the only filtration system that will work at your home. There are multiple options!

Types of filtration

Filtration systems typically use granular activated carbon, ion exchange, or reverse osmosis to remove PFAS and other contaminants. While reverse osmosis systems can effectively remove PFAS from drinking water, they create more waste water containing PFAS than they do clean drinking water. That waste water is returned to your septic system and eventually back into groundwater, so PFAS is not removed from the environment. Granular activated carbon systems trap the contamination in the filter cartridge.

Ecology is requiring Spokane Airport, the City of Spokane, and Spokane County to provide whole-house filtration systems to residents and businesses with PFAS-contaminated private wells in their affected area. We notified them Feb. 10, 2026, and we expect work will begin later this year.

Fairchild Air Force Base is providing whole-house treatment systems to affected homes in their monitoring area. They began this work in 2017, and it is ongoing as their investigation continues.

People using private wells within the airport's or Fairchild's areas should be contacted and do not need to take action to receive filtration at no cost.

The Spokane County PFAS Response Task Force has $7.5 million from the Washington Legislature to install whole-house systems in the West Plains, and there is no boundary on their coverage area.

To recover the costs of installing and maintaining a water filtration system you purchased, we recommend you speak to a lawyer. Ecology doesn’t have the authority to require parties responsible for contamination to reimburse you for filtration costs. You could seek reimbursement under a separate private action.

NSF thoroughly tests filters before they are labeled “certified.” Additionally, the Department of Health tested tap water from 8 houses in the West Plains with Pentair filters installed in December 2024. This was to make sure the filters were working to meet the strictest health safety recommendations. None of the tests detected PFAS, which means any levels are below the smallest level we can test for. These samples meet drinking water standards, so the filtered water is safe for use.

Potential buyers have the legal right to know about possible hazards, and sellers are required to disclose information about their property. You can learn more about the process in our guide to real estate transactions.

There is a well drilling advisory for the area of known and suspected PFAS contamination in the West Plains. Ecology and Spokane Regional Health District use it to notify drillers of the potential for PFAS contamination in groundwater and Washington's requirements for preserving natural barriers to groundwater movement between aquifers. The advisory doesn’t prohibit drilling new wells.