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Wildfires Are Contaminating Water Supplies
Wildfires don’t just destroy forest—they can increase sediment in rivers and reservoirs, spark algae blooms, and pollute watercourses with dangerous chemicals, leaving water providers to grapple with long-term consequences.
Other regions across the western US, like Taos, New Mexico, and Santa Cruz, California, have faced similar issues, as wildfires increase in frequency and duration due to climate change and decades of fire-suppression practices. After a wildfire, water providers work tirelessly to ensure residents don’t experience the effects in their taps, which requires collaboration between land agencies, like the Forest Service, USGS, and local governing bodies. “The water-distribution system was able to come back relatively quickly, but we also wanted to make sure the individual service lines to homes were safe.” They continued to test throughout the home-rebuild process and created an interactive map for the community to see their property’s water-quality status.
Or read this on Wired