Assessing water contamination risk from vegetation fires: Challenges, opportunities and a framework for progress

Nunes, João Pedro; Doerr, Stefan H.; Sheridan, Gary; Neris, Jonay; Santín, Cristina; Emelko, Monica B.; Silins, U.; Robichaud, Peter R.; Elliot, William J.; Keizer, Jan Jacob

doi:10.1002/hyp.11434

Cited by 77 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 69 publications

(130 reference statements)

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“…Cannon et al, 2001;Santi et al, 2008), increase erosion (e.g. Martin, 2016;Nunes et al, 2018) including water quantity (e.g. Meyer et al, 2001;Roering and Gerber, 2005;Shakesby and Doerr, 2006), and lead to acute and chronic water supply problems (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measurement Method Has a Larger Impact Than Spatial Scale For Plot‐Scale Field‐Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity (K_fs) After Wildfire and Prescribed Fire in Forests

Ebel

2019

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Wildfires raise risks of floods, debris flows, major geomorphologic and sedimentologic change, and water quality and quantity shifts. A principal control on the magnitude of these changes is field‐saturated hydraulic conductivity (Kfs), which dictates surface runoff generation and is a key input into numerical models. This work synthesizes 73 Kfs datasets from the literature in the first year following fire at the plot scale (≤ 10 m2). A meta‐analysis using a random effects analysis showed significant differences between burned and unburned Kfs. The reductions in Kfs after fire, expressed by the ratio of Kfs Burned/Kfs Unburned, were 0.46 (95% confidence interval of 0.31‐0.70) combining wildfire and prescribed fire and 0.3 (95% confidence interval of 0.13‐0.71) for wildfire. No significant differences for Kfs were observed between wildfire and prescribed fire or moderate and high fire severity. Both Kfs magnitude and variability depended more on measurement method than measurement support area at the plot scale, with methods applying head ≥0.5 cm producing larger estimates of Kfs. It is recommended that post‐fire efforts to characterize Kfs for modeling or process‐based interpretations use methods that reflect the dominant infiltration processes: tension infiltrometers and simulated rainfall methods when soil matrix flow dominates and ponded head methods when macropore flow is critical. Published 2019. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meyer et al, 2001;Roering and Gerber, 2005;Shakesby and Doerr, 2006), and lead to acute and chronic water supply problems (e.g. Martin, 2016;Nunes et al, 2018) including water quantity (e.g. Hallema et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement Method Has a Larger Impact Than Spatial Scale For Plot‐Scale Field‐Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity (K_fs) After Wildfire and Prescribed Fire in Forests

Ebel

2019

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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“…Communities that rely on surface water from fire-prone watersheds are at risk of wildfire-related increases in peak flows, sediment, debris, organic matter and other constituents that may damage water infrastructure, complicate water treatment and reduce reservoir storage capacity (Moody and Martin 2001;Martin 2016;Nunes et al 2018). In the western USA, proactive fuels reduction has emerged as a popular strategy to mitigate wildfire risk to water supplies (Huber-Stearns 2015; Ozment et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prioritising fuels reduction for water supply protection

Gannon

Wei

MacDonald

et al. 2019

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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Concerns over wildfire impacts to water supplies have motivated efforts to mitigate risk by reducing forest fuels. Methods to assess fuel treatment effects and prioritise their placement are needed to guide risk mitigation efforts. We present a fuel treatment optimisation model to minimise risk to multiple water supplies based on constraints for treatment feasibility and cost. Risk is quantified as the expected sediment impact costs to water supplies by combining measures of fire likelihood and behaviour, erosion, sediment transport and water supply vulnerability. We demonstrate the model’s utility for prioritising fuel treatments in two large watersheds in Colorado, USA, that are critical for municipal water supply. Our results indicate that wildfire risk to water supplies can be substantially reduced by treating a small portion of the watersheds that have dense, fire-prone forests on steep slopes that drain to water supply infrastructure. Our results also show that the cost of fuel treatments outweighs the expected cost savings from reduced sediment inputs owing to the low probability of fuel treatments encountering wildfire and the high cost of thinning forests. This highlights the need to expand use of more cost-effective treatments, like prescribed fire, and to identify fuel treatment projects that benefit multiple resources.

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“…Identifying locations where there is a greater probability of adverse effects on key drinking-water sources from wildfire can facilitate coordination of forest management activities and utility operations to mitigate threats from wildfire and ensure protection and distribution of safe drinking water [25]. Moreover, this knowledge can contribute to enabling water treatment vulnerability assessments, developing strategies to rapidly identify water contamination, and responding to the unique challenges often associated with post-wildfire drinking-water treatment [26]. Such knowledge will be critical in adapting to the growing pressures from global environmental change on forest ecosystems and water resources, and consequently, on drinking-water systems [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Regional-Scale Index for Assessing the Exposure of Drinking-Water Sources to Wildfires

Robinne

Bladon

Silins

et al. 2019

Forests

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Recent human-interface wildfires around the world have raised concerns regarding the reliability of freshwater supply flowing from severely burned watersheds. Degraded source water quality can often be expected after severe wildfire and can pose challenges to drinking water facilities by straining treatment response capacities, increasing operating costs, and jeopardizing their ability to supply consumers. Identifying source watersheds that are dangerously exposed to post-wildfire hydrologic changes is important for protecting community drinking-water supplies from contamination risks that may lead to service disruptions. This study presents a spatial index of watershed exposure to wildfires in the province of Alberta, Canada, where growing water demands coupled with increasing fire activity threaten municipal drinking-water supplies. Using a multi-criteria analysis design, we integrated information regarding provincial forest cover, fire danger, source water volume, source-water origin (i.e., forested/un-forested), and population served. We found that (1) >2/3 of the population of the province relies on drinking-water supplies originating in forested watersheds, (2) forest cover is the most important variable controlling final exposure scores, and (3) watersheds supplying small drinking water treatment plants are particularly exposed, especially in central Alberta. The index can help regional authorities prioritize the allocation of risk management resources to mitigate adverse impacts from wildfire. The flexible design of this tool readily allows its deployment at larger national and continental scales to inform broader water security frameworks.

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Assessing water contamination risk from vegetation fires: Challenges, opportunities and a framework for progress

Cited by 77 publications

References 69 publications

Measurement Method Has a Larger Impact Than Spatial Scale For Plot‐Scale Field‐Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity (K_fs) After Wildfire and Prescribed Fire in Forests

Measurement Method Has a Larger Impact Than Spatial Scale For Plot‐Scale Field‐Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity (K_fs) After Wildfire and Prescribed Fire in Forests

Prioritising fuels reduction for water supply protection

A Regional-Scale Index for Assessing the Exposure of Drinking-Water Sources to Wildfires

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Assessing water contamination risk from vegetation fires: Challenges, opportunities and a framework for progress

Cited by 77 publications

References 69 publications

Measurement Method Has a Larger Impact Than Spatial Scale For Plot‐Scale Field‐Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity (Kfs) After Wildfire and Prescribed Fire in Forests

Measurement Method Has a Larger Impact Than Spatial Scale For Plot‐Scale Field‐Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity (Kfs) After Wildfire and Prescribed Fire in Forests

Prioritising fuels reduction for water supply protection

A Regional-Scale Index for Assessing the Exposure of Drinking-Water Sources to Wildfires

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Measurement Method Has a Larger Impact Than Spatial Scale For Plot‐Scale Field‐Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity (K_fs) After Wildfire and Prescribed Fire in Forests

Measurement Method Has a Larger Impact Than Spatial Scale For Plot‐Scale Field‐Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity (K_fs) After Wildfire and Prescribed Fire in Forests