Post Falls well rehab finds E. coli, could add costs
E. coli and coliform bacteria showed up after Post Falls rehabbed Well House 4, leaving the city to decide who is liable and how much more the fix could cost.
Testing found coliform bacteria and E. coli at Post Falls’ Well House 4 after rehab work began, forcing the city to keep the well offline. The problem has persisted through multiple chlorination attempts by WM Welch, and city leaders are trying to determine whether the source was a contractor mistake or something outside the project.
The Post Falls City Council awarded the rehab contract to WM Welch in December 2024. Construction began in March 2025 on a job estimated at about $532,000, but the contamination discovery has created the possibility of more spending before the well can return to service. Projects Division Manager Andrew Arbini estimated the city may need as much as $67,000 more to keep working on the issue and to sort out responsibility.
Well House 4 has been isolated from the water system since the contamination report in March. J-U-B Engineers will stay involved as technical advisers until the problem is resolved, and J-U-B and WM Welch are in dispute over whether the project specifications were followed. Councilor Samantha Steigleder questioned whether the city should keep paying for work before those questions are settled and before the water is shown to be clean.
Mayor Randy Westlund pointed to extra costs common on construction projects, and the city is already running over its original technical-services contract. The well remains out of service as crews continue chlorination efforts and additional testing.
Post Falls’ water system serves about half the city’s citizens and businesses, supplies more than 2 billion gallons of safe drinking water a year and serves roughly 20,000 residential and commercial customers. The system includes 10 wells, five reservoirs, more than 128 miles of pipelines and about 8,000 meters, and pumps an average of 5.8 million gallons a day. City records show the community’s water history dates to 1891, when a sawmill and waterworks facility were established to meet the city’s needs.
The Well House 4 problem comes after another well disruption last year, when Well 8 went offline for unplanned maintenance and the city asked residents to conserve water before later returning it to service. Post Falls also has a seasonal chlorination program designed to keep chlorine residuals above 0.25 parts per million for 30 days, a long-running maintenance practice used for about 20 years.
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