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

二零二三年八月初毛伊岛发生的毁灭性野火导致重大生命损失、结构性破坏以及公共和环境健康危机。野火的直接影响影响到拉海纳和库拉社区的数千人，但由于建筑管道和市政供水系统受热恶化而造成的饮用水污染的长期影响范围仍然未知。截至2023年9月11日，针对这些社区的不安全用水建议仍然有效。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，并影响到他们的复原力和适应能力。因此，很明显，在城市野火灾害，知识，可以加快检测，隔离和修复水系统污染是至关重要的社区响应和恢复已经悲惨的情况。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，为夏威夷毛伊岛及其他地区的社会、种族和经济多样化社区服务。本项目将采用新的创新方法，提高预测市政供水系统中与野火有关的水污染程度和分布的能力，特别是对于缺乏水力模型的公用事业。该奖项利用从奥帕提亚先前的污染危机中获得的知识以及在那里建立的网络和关系，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应对社区的各种需求。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，以确保其他社会和经济脆弱的高风险社区的公平。野火污染物在饮用水系统中的传输仍然是全球范围内一个令人难以置信的鲜为人知的问题。这项研究可能会通过探索和记录毛伊岛的供水系统和社区对野火影响的反应，为其他处于风险中的市政饮用水公用事业，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知识价值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.