Water Supply Contamination from Wildfires
As if the loss of life and property that often results from forest fires is not enough, a new study indicates that fire events can also contaminate the local drinking water supply. This is an interesting conclusion that I’ve never thought about before, so let’s take a deep dive into how this could happen.
How Fire Can Pollute the Water Supply
The research, sponsored by the Water Research Foundation, suggests that fires can erode soils, deposit ash, and elevate nearby water temperatures enough to create a spike in algae, all of which can pollute the forested watersheds that many water utilities draw water from.
The research also concludes that polluted water sources are difficult to treat, and present additional challenges for utility filtration systems. And more bad news – forest fires are likely to increase in frequency due to the impact of climate change, increasing the overall contamination risk.
Recommendations for Mitigating Contaminated Water Supply
Luckily, the report does offer some recommendations to help water utilities mitigate he impact of water supply contamination:
- Expand water storage capacity in fire-prone areas
- Expand use of pre-sedimentation basins
- Expand the number & variety of water sources
- Improve procedures to coordinate with local agencies
- Develop mitigation and response strategies that cover various contamination scenarios
- Coordinate an exercise or drill that incorporates a contamination scenario
Overall, these are interesting findings that should put water utilities that utilize forest watersheds in fire-prone areas on high alert. As such, now would be a great time to review the water supply contamination response protocols in your company’s emergency plans and procedures.
