RAPID: Identifying Drinking Water Contamination and Social Vulnerability Impacts from Urban Fires

2023年8月初毛伊岛发生的毁灭性野火导致重大生命损失、结构破坏以及公共和环境健康危机。野火的直接影响影响到Lāhainā和库拉社区的数千人，但由于高温导致建筑管道和市政给水系统恶化，饮用水污染造成的长期影响的广度尚不清楚。截至2023年9月11日，针对这些社区的不安全水警告仍然有效。无法获得安全饮用水和对未来的不确定性，再加上悲痛、创伤和集体痛苦，加剧了这些社区的脆弱性，影响了它们的复原力和适应能力。因此，很明显，在城市野火灾难中，能够加快检测、隔离和补救水系污染的知识对于社区在已经悲惨的情况下的反应和恢复至关重要。了解如何将社会公正和公平纳入决策支持工具，为水政策解决方案提供信息，可以促进毛伊岛的快速恢复和管理工作，为夏威夷ʻI和其他地区的社会、种族和经济多样化社区服务。该项目将使用新的和创新的方法来提高预测城市供水系统中与野火有关的水污染的程度和分布的能力，特别是对于缺乏水力模型的公用事业公司。利用OʻAHU上之前的污染危机所获得的知识以及在那里建立的网络和关系，该奖项还将建立在水污染应对和社区合作的基础上，以促进公平和及时地响应社区的不同需求。绘制脆弱社区的野火风险图可以支持毛伊岛未来的恢复工作，以确保其他处于高风险的社会和经济脆弱社区的公平。野火污染物在饮用水系统中的传输仍然是一个令人难以置信的全球鲜为人知的问题。这项研究可以通过探索和记录毛伊岛供水系统和社区对野火影响的反应，潜在地为其他面临风险的市政饮用水公用事业公司、卫生部门和应急管理人员提供信息。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The devastating wildfires on the Island of Maui in early August 2023 led to significant loss of life, structural damage, and a public and environmental health crisis. The immediate impacts of the wildfires affected thousands in the communities of Lāhainā and Kula, but the breadth of long-term impacts from contamination of drinking water through heat-induced deterioration of building plumbing and municipal water systems remains unknown. As of September 11th, 2023, an unsafe water advisory for these communities remains in effect. The inaccessibility of safe water and uncertainty about the future, combined with the grief, trauma, and collective suffering, heightens these communities’ vulnerabilities and impacts their resilience and adaptive capacity. Thus, it is clear that in urban-wildfire disasters, knowledge that can expedite the detection, isolation, and remediation of water system contamination is critical for community response and recovery in an already tragic situation. Understanding how social justice and equity can be incorporated into decision-support tools to inform water policy solutions can facilitate Maui's rapid recovery and management efforts to serve the socially, ethnically, and economically diverse communities of Hawaiʻi and beyond.This project will use new and innovative approaches to enhance capacity to predict the extent and distribution of wildfire-related water contamination in municipal water distribution systems, particularly for utilities that lack hydraulic models. Using the knowledge gained from a prior contamination crisis on Oʻahu and the networks and relationships developed there, this award will also build on water contamination response and community collaborations to facilitate equitable and timely response to the community's diverse needs. Mapping the wildfire risk of vulnerable communities can support Maui’s future recovery efforts to ensure equity across other socially and economically vulnerable communities at high risk. Transport of wildfire contaminants in drinking water systems remains an incredibly poorly-known issue globally. This research can potentially inform other at-risk municipal drinking water utilities, health departments, and emergency managers by exploring and documenting the response of Maui’s water systems and communities to wildfire-impacts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.