Fine sediment impacts on water treatability in fire impacted watersheds: Quantification of downstream propagation and water quality threats

细沉积物对受火灾影响的流域水处理能力的影响：下游传播和水质威胁的量化

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-06963
• 负责人: Stone, Micheal
• 金额: $ 2.19万
• 依托单位: University of Waterloo
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=754890
• 关键词: Fine; sediment; impacts; water; treatability

Forests are the primary source of drinking water for > 58% of the largest urban and rural communities as well as most Indigenous communities in Canada. Ironically, the high quality of these water resources make them vulnerable to severe large scale landscape disturbance such as those produced by wildfire. Climate associated changes in fire weather conditions over the past two decades have resulted in rapidly increasing occurrence, extent, and severity of major wildfire disturbances in critical forested source water regions of western North America. The threat of wildfire on sediment and associated nutrient dynamics in rives draining forested regions may pose a real risk to water supply and ecosystem services in many regions in Canada and across the globe. Despite the economic and environmental significance of wildfire and threats to the provision of safe drinking water, relatively few studies have examined the propagation of fine sediment in rivers draining burned watersheds and the delivery of these materials to reservoirs. Little is known about whether this deposited bottom sediment is a sink or source of phosphorus or if it has the potential to proliferate the growth of cyanobacteria which can challenge water treatment processes. Given that forested snow melt dominated slopes of the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains are critical water supply regions in Canada and the United States, knowledge gained from this research is relevant to water suppliers where source waters generally originate from forested landscapes. Results of the proposed research will improve knowledge of the transport processes and water quality impacts of post fire sediment and associated phosphorus in rivers at the large basin scale and evaluate the risk to water quality in downstream environments such as lakes and reservoirs. Knowledge gained from the proposed research will provide scientific insights to inform reservoir management strategies to evaluate the risk of fine sediment from wildfires to water treatability and related challenges to the provision of safe drinking water.

森林是最大的城市和农村社区以及加拿大大多数土著社区> 58％的饮用水的主要来源。具有讽刺意味的是，这些水资源的高质量使它们容易受到严重的大规模景观干扰的影响，例如野火生产的景观。在过去的二十年中，与气候相关的火灾天气状况变化导致北美关键森林源源水地区的重大野火障碍的发生，程度和严重程度迅速增加。在排水森林地区的河流中，野火对沉积物和相关营养动态的威胁可能会对加拿大和全球许多地区的供水和生态系统服务构成真正的风险。尽管野火具有经济和环境意义，并威胁要提供安全的饮用水，但相对较少的研究研究了河流排水燃烧的流域的繁殖，以及将这些材料传递给储层。关于这种沉积的底部沉积物是磷的水槽还是来源，或者是否有可能增殖蓝细菌的生长，这可能会挑战水处理过程。鉴于岩石山脉东部山坡的森林融化占主导地位是加拿大和美国的关键供水区，因此从这项研究中获得的知识与水供应商有关，那里的水源水通常来自森林景观。拟议的研究的结果将提高对大盆地河流中消防沉积物和相关磷的运输过程和水质影响的了解，并评估湖泊和储层等下游环境中水质的风险。从拟议的研究中获得的知识将提供科学见解，以告知储层管理策略，以评估从野火到水可治疗性及其相关挑战到提供安全饮用水的挑战的风险。