Pollutants from wildfires can linger in the water supply long after the flames are out. The findings are from a new study that looked at more than 500 watersheds across the Western U.S.
Scientists found that water stays cloudy with sediment and full of nitrogen and phosphorus for up to eight years after a wildfire.
The University of Colorado’s Carli Brucker worked on the study and says that makes the water much harder to clean.
"The biggest impact is really to the water treatment facilities themselves, and, you know, having to invest millions of dollars into increased treatments or repairing damages due to too much debris flowing into the treatment plants," Brucker said.
She and other scientists found levels of sediment, organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus can be more than one hundred times higher after a wildfire.
"In areas of the Western U.S. with these more forested areas, they're not only more prone to wildfires and have these like large fuel sources, but we see that those also drive higher, higher loads of sediments and contaminants," Brucker said.
Brucker says upgrades to water treatment systems are becoming more important as wildfires in the West get bigger and more intense.
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Highschoolers across six BIE-run schools in South Dakota, Oklahoma, Montana and New Mexico are already participating, including Northwest High School in Shiprock on the Navajo Nation. -
The study found that permafrost can thaw during intense wildfires in Alaska and Canada, which contributes to a warming climate feedback loop. -
The team, led by a Boise State University civil engineering researcher, looked at half a million wildfire starts, and hundreds of attributes about them. Beyond the obvious weather variables like wind speed, temperature and humidity, they also considered human factors like density of development. -
The 11 senators and representatives - all Democrats - said that the consolidation of four Department of Interior agencies' wildfire programs is being done "without adequate analysis, transparency, or planning to prevent disruption during what is expected to be a significant fire season or to safeguard long-term wildfire preparedness." -
Hikers and bikers who use Dove Valley Trail in Scottsdale may want to consider other options while the city does some work to reduce wildfire risk and improve emergency access.
