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Spokane County outlines West Plains aquifer protection area; Medical Lake council asks for more information
Summary
Spokane County Public Works Director Kyle Tuohig presented a proposal on Oct. 7 to create a West Plains Aquifer Protection Area funded by parcel assessments; the model would require Medical Lake to pass a resolution to be included and could produce roughly $40,000 a year for the city under current estimates.
Spokane County officials on Oct. 7 presented a proposal for a West Plains Aquifer Protection Area (APA) to the Medical Lake City Council, describing a voter-funded program that would assess parcels to pay for monitoring, education, stormwater and other groundwater protection activities. County staff estimated a fund roughly comparable to the Spokane Valley–Rathdrum Prairie APA could raise about $400,000 annually across the proposed boundary, with Medical Lakeexpected to receive a little over $40,000 of the proportional allocation if the average fee model is used.
The presentation, led by Spokane County Public Works Director Kyle Tuohig, said APAs are established under state law (RCW 36.36) and are created by county commissioners after affected municipalities adopt resolutions asking to be included. "An APA cannot include any municipal jurisdictions without them requesting to be included," Tuohig said. He described eligible expenditures as broad, including monitoring, drinking water and on-site sewage work, stormwater,…
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