Colfax applies to add water for airport

A Port of Whitman request to use more water for the Business Air Center at the Colfax airport is being considered by the Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) and Department of Health (DOH).

At present, the airport well uses less than 5,000 gallons per day, for which water rights from the city are unnecessary. If it goes above that, an agreement would be needed.

The City of Colfax has an allocation from the Department of Ecology for 450,976,400 gallons of water per year, coming from four local wells – connected to an aquifer. The city is free to sell some of this water to outside entiti...