FIVE MILE PRAIRIE, Wash — Heidi Ferre moved back to the Inland Northwest last year seeking more space for her family on Five Mile Prairie, but what was supposed to be a welcomed homecoming has turned into a daily struggle with failing water infrastructure.
“Currently, we are facing what is really a water infrastructure crisis,” said Ferre.
Heidi lives in Vel View Water District #13, a small water district with years of water infrastructure problems.
“We use it for showers, but we don’t actually drink the water,” said Ferre.
On a daily basis, residents aren’t sure if they will have safe water for their families, and the water they do get doesn’t even come with enough pressure to water the lawn.
Neighbors say the water main supplying their homes is failing. They’ve documented its troubles for 50 years, and their well no longer works.
Over the years, problems have been continuously met with band-aid solutions to get by, resulting in multi-day outages and expensive repairs.
The district also does not have fire hydrants along its street, which could pose a hazard if a fire were to break out.
“We have about 50 acres of dry farmland around us, and we don’t have fire hydrants on our streets. So, if there is a fire behind us, they’re going to have to truck in water, and we know that even just the weight of that truck will crush that water main, and that will put us in an emergency status,” said Ferre. “We are waiting for a disaster, essentially.”
Right now, the 26 homes in the district receive water through an emergency connection with the City of Spokane that has been in place for the last two decades.
The intertie, initially intended for emergencies, has been the district’s primary source of water since 2014, when the well ultimately failed.
And with emergency water comes a higher price tag, which is passed on to residents.
Heidi hopes their area will be officially absorbed into the City of Spokane’s water system.
The city said it would, but only if the water infrastructure in Vel View went through a massive overhaul.
The project would cost $2.5-millon to complete, and the bill would be split between the 26 homes.
According to Spokane County Commissioner Al French, who represents the district, this has been proposed through the creation of a Road Improvement District, which would tack the cost onto the property taxes of residents for the next 10-20 years.
The offer was ultimately shot down by Vel View leaders, hoping to find other forms of funding.
“We have exhausted every effort on the state and even the federal level for grants and loans, and we either don’t qualify for them, or we can’t afford them,” said Ferre. “Because these loans come with interest, and each house would be responsible for roughly $160- 180 thousand dollars if we were to take out a loan.”
Last year, there was hope for secured funding for the project through the state budget, but it fell through at the last minute.
“It’s clearly an oversight, and that’s the big problem,” said Ferre.
Neighbors feel this whole situation was an oversight by the city and county.
As new neighborhoods and schools were built around them and connected to city water, Vel View continued to be the forgotten block.
“It’s been kicked between the county and the city. That’s one issue, but it just doesn’t seem like anybody cares enough to say, ‘Hey, I’m gonna step in and help this water district, ‘” said Ferre.
So far, Heidi says the only viable way forward she sees is to gain support from lawmakers by having them include the money in the state budget again.
Something that Commissioner French and other lawmakers say they will try again for this year.
Commissar French said in a statement, “This year’s session was very difficult, and the request was not funded. We plan on submitting the request again next year. The state legislature is not known for funding projects like these because there is no statewide nexus.”
“It just feels like we are up against a hill that is very steep to climb, and it’s not a battle we might ever win. We’re gonna have to have elected officials step in,” said Ferre.
So, until a solution is found, Heidi and her neighbors feel stuck with no end in sight for their water woes.
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