AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. – One step inside John Hancock home in the West Plains reveals a man who has a tendency to collect.
But the most notable of the eclectic bunch sit side-by-side on the kitchen counter – a series of water filters.
“We suffer every day in our drinking water from the groundwater,” Hancock said.
PFAS, often referred to as “forever chemicals,” have been a concern for many in the West Plains. The Department of Ecology (DOE) has confirmed high levels of these chemicals in their groundwater.
More than half of the private wells sampled in a 2024 DOE report had PFAS levels above the safe drinking water standards. DOE identified Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane International Airport as contributors to the contamination.
When Washington State lawmakers return to the Olympia this month for the upcoming session, pre-filed Senate Bill 5033 will be waiting for them. The legislation wants to require PFAS testing statewide at public water treatment facilities and report the findings back to the legislature by December 1, 2028.
“We think it should be one year, because there are other states like Maine and Texas and Michigan that started down this road long ago, and so their methods of testing and remediating are all are already in place,” Hancock said. “We could go faster here in Washington simply by starting from the best practices in other states.”
In Spokane, filtered septic water is returned to the river, while the dried leftover waste – called “biosolids” in the bill – are used as fertilizer for local agriculture.SB 5033 focuses specifically on testing the biosolids.
Hancock serves as the president of the Est Plains Water Coalition to push forward solutions for people in his area affected by contaminated wells. While he sees this legislation as a step in the right direction, he still calls out flaws.
The testing is only to take place at public water treatment faculties, as it is currently written. Hancock says private wells – including the highly contaminated groundwater system impacting 1,500 people in the West Plains – would be left out of sampling and testing.
“It should be the focus of an investigation in our area,” Hancock said. “Rather than an exemption.”
Hancock argues excluding these systems from testing could make the problem appear smaller than it is; however, he is expecting to see multiple pieces of legislation this session to address his concerns about PFAS.
The Washington State Legislature will return to Olympia on January 13.
