Water Quality and Contaminant Fate Following Natural Disasters

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Abstract

The 2018 Camp Fire is the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history. The fire killed 88 people according to recent estimates, consumed 18,000 homes and other structures, and burned down the entire town of Paradise. Firefighters contained the conflagration only after it rained during Thanksgiving week. But when the weather shifted, not everyone felt at ease. The storm not only tamped down the fire, it also began the process of flushing a mixture of toxic chemicals into the region’s creeks and rivers. Extensive drinking water system damage and chemical contamination were uncovered in the burn area. The fire rendered large and small water systems and private wells broken and chemically tainted. Scientists and ecotoxicologists have worked hard to understand and resolve the extent of water contamination with ongoing testing and solutions. According to national climate assessments, California’s wildfire season now threatens to stretch year-round. More regions in the US are likely to see fires as a result of climate change. One of the major findings from recent fires is that people living in the burn area lacked much needed building water safety guidance.

Join us as Dr. Andrew Whelton and Dr. Jackson Webster, leading environmental engineers, enlighten us about water quality and contaminant fate following natural disasters and how science and data aid health departments, federal agencies and homeowners to respond to such natural disasters.

Biographies

Dr. Andrew Whelton

Andrew Whelton, Ph.D. is a Purdue University professor of civil, environmental, and ecological engineering whose work focuses at the intersection of public health, infrastructure, and the environment.  He earned a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech.  Professor Whelton is internationally recognized for water infrastructure disaster response and recovery.

In recent years, he has been called into disasters such as the Freedom Industries Chemical Spill, Camp Fire, Marshall Fire, and Lytton BC Fires, among others. His teams have positively changed how governments, water utilities, nonprofit organizations, health departments, and legislatures support communities before and after disasters. His websites (www.PlumbingSafety.org;  www.CIPPSafety.org) further make their discoveries accessible to communities of interest.

In 2015, the U.S. National Science Foundation created a “Science Nation” video to highlight his team’s work benefiting U.S. public safety and welfare.

Dr. Jackson Webster

Dr. Jackson Webster is an Associate Professor of civil engineering at California State University, Chico, who studies the effects of wildfire on water quality. He received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Dr. Webster’s research has primarily focused on remobilization of mercury from soil during wildfire and the subsequent geochemical cycling in burned watersheds across the western US. Following the Camp Fire (2018), he expanded his post-wildfire research to examine watershed contamination from urban burning. Dr. Webster led a year-long monitoring study of storm water runoff from the town of Paradise, CA, to assess the effects of widespread urban burning on the local watersheds. Since the Camp Fire, his inquiry into the subject of post-fire water quality has continued with multiple studies on large wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires including the North Complex (Plumas County, CA, 2020), LNU lightning complex (Napa and Sonoma Counties, CA, 2020) and, most recently, the Marshal Fire (Boulder County, CO, 2021) where he has engaged with state and local stakeholders to provide guidance on post-fire storm water management and water quality concerns.

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