The DOI matches its Crossref record; 71 of the 71 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Wildfires Alter Forest Watersheds and Threaten Drinking Water Quality
Abstract
Wildfires are a natural part of most forest ecosystems, but due to changing climatic and environmental conditions, they have become larger, more severe, and potentially more damaging. Forested watersheds vulnerable to wildfire serve as drinking water supplies for many urban and rural communities. The highly variable nature of wildfire behavior combined with spatially complex patterns in vegetation, landscape, and hydrologic factors create uncertainty surrounding the postfire effects on water supplies. Wildfires often cause dramatic changes in forest vegetation structure and soil conditions, and alter the watershed processes that control streamflow, soil erosion, nutrient export, and downstream water chemistry. The authors' work centers on field and laboratory studies to advance knowledge of postfire changes in soil and water chemical composition that influence drinking water treatment. High intensity postfire rainstorms typically increase runoff that erodes ash and soil from burned landscapes and dramatically elevates turbidity, nutrient, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) levels in surface waters, which can cause short-term challenges for water providers. There is also growing evidence that water quality impacts can persist after high severity fires due to slow vegetative recovery, and nitrogen and DOC have remained elevated for 15 years following high severity fire. Low-moderate temperatures during wildfire may also influence water quality. Research by the authors showed that the solubility of organic matter, and C and N released from soils increased following soil heating at temperatures ≤ 350 °C. Further, the water extracted organic matter from soils heated at 225-350 °C included higher proportions of condensed aromatic structures, such as black carbon and black nitrogen. Short-term postfire water quality degradation following high intensity rainstorms can force water treatment plants to shut down or can significantly challenge treatment process performance. Extreme turbidity and high DOC in poststorm water, coupled with compositional organic matter changes, reduced the coagulation efficiency of postfire water supplies. Field and lab-based studies documented the formation of small, aromatic soluble compounds during wildfire that contribute to inefficient DOC removal from postfire stormwater. Due to increased postfire DOC concentrations, and poor treatability of poststorm runoff, toxic disinfection byproduct (DBP) formation increased during water treatment. Exceedance of drinking water standards for the carbonaceous DBPs, trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids, may present a critical management concern for water providers following wildfires. Further, postfire formation of nitrogen compounds and increased nitrogenous DBP precursors for haloacetonitriles and chloropicrin were discovered. N-DBPs pose a public health concern due to their toxicity, and water providers should be aware of potential increases in N-DBP formation following fire. Evidence from the authors' studies demonstrates that even partially burned watersheds and wildfires burning at moderate temperature can have significant, lasting effects on C and N exports, source water quality, drinking water treatability, and DBP formation. Both short- and long-term postfire water quality impacts can create challenges for drinking water providers as they confront variability in supply and treatability. Communities, forest managers, and potable water providers will need to adapt to more frequent, destructive wildfires and anticipate greater variability in water quality.
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“The authors found formation potential of trihalomethane (THM) and haloacetic acids (HAA), two classes of DBPs, at concentrations above drinking water regulatory levels due to a supply of low molecular weight DOC compounds from runoff in a burned watershed in Colorado (Hohner et al., 2019).”
From Wildfire Induces Changes in Receiving Waters: A Review With Considerations for Water Quality Management (2022) · cites this paper as Hohner et al., 2019
In the citing paper
“A recent study on DBPs and wildfire described the formation potential risk as being greatest below fires of medium intensity, since at high temperatures more carbon and nitrogen are volatized and, at lower temperatures, insufficient transformations take place to generate dissolved carbon and nitrogen compounds (Hohner et al., 2019).”
From Wildfire Induces Changes in Receiving Waters: A Review With Considerations for Water Quality Management (2022) · cites this paper as Hohner et al., 2019
In the citing paper
“The study also observed the formation potential of unregulated haloacetonitriles (HANs), another type of DBP, from low molecular weight DON molecules (Hohner et al., 2019).”
From Wildfire Induces Changes in Receiving Waters: A Review With Considerations for Water Quality Management (2022) · cites this paper as Hohner et al., 2019
In the citing paper
“Post-fire increases in nutrients can lead to increased algal growth in water supply reservoirs, with the potential to impact human health by increasing algal DOC and DBP formation risk (Hohner et al., 2019).”
From Wildfire Induces Changes in Receiving Waters: A Review With Considerations for Water Quality Management (2022) · cites this paper as Hohner et al., 2019
In the citing paper
“In both countries, heavy rainfall eventually stopped fire spread, but triggered extensive runoff, erosion, and mass movements degrading source water quality and availability, potentially for decades to come (Hanscombe, 2020; Hohner et al., 2019; Niemeyer et al., 2020; Robinne, 2020).”
From Scientists' warning on extreme wildfire risks to water supply (2021) · cites this paper as Hohner et al., 2019
In the citing paper
“Notable exceptions include organic carbon and nitrogen, however, which can volatilize at higher temperatures (>450°C) (Hohner et al., 2019).”
From Wildfire Induces Changes in Receiving Waters: A Review With Considerations for Water Quality Management (2022) · cites this paper as Hohner et al., 2019
In the citing paper
“Thus, organic carbon and nitrogen responses can exhibit unimodal responses to severity (Chow et al., 2019; Hohner et al., 2019).”
From Wildfire Induces Changes in Receiving Waters: A Review With Considerations for Water Quality Management (2022) · cites this paper as Hohner et al., 2019
In the citing paper
“By contrast, higher temperatures (≥450°C) volatilized most carbon and nitrogen, suggesting high-intensity fires may result in lower organic carbon and nitrogen export to downstream waterbodies (Hohner et al., 2016, 2019).”
From Wildfire Induces Changes in Receiving Waters: A Review With Considerations for Water Quality Management (2022) · cites this paper as Hohner et al., 2019
In the citing paper
“The magnitude of response appears to be fire temperature dependent, according to laboratory heating experiments with water extractable organic carbon and nitrogen exhibiting highest concentrations at medium temperatures (≤350°C; Hohner et al., 2019).”
From Wildfire Induces Changes in Receiving Waters: A Review With Considerations for Water Quality Management (2022) · cites this paper as Hohner et al., 2019
In the citing paper
“As noted previously, concentrations of carbon and nitrogen compounds often increase following fire, and these compounds can react with disinfectants (e.g., chlorine, chloramine) to form DBPs during drinking water treatment (Bladon et al., 2014; Hohner et al., 2016, 2019).”
From Wildfire Induces Changes in Receiving Waters: A Review With Considerations for Water Quality Management (2022) · cites this paper as Hohner et al., 2019
In the citing paper
“Wildfires often burn large watersheds that are key sources of drinking water for populated areas nearby (Hohner et al., 2019;Robinne et al., 2021).”
From Chemical characteristics of wildfire ash across the globe and their environmental and socio-economic implications (2023) · cites this paper as Hohner et al., 2019
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Metadata
- Authors
- Hohner, A. K., Rhoades, C. C., Wilkerson, P., & Rosario-Ortiz, F. L.
- Affiliations
- Washington State University (US)
- US Forest Service (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, United States
- Corresponding author
- Hohner, Amanda K.
- Venue
- Accounts of Chemical Research
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2019-05-06
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1234-1244
- ISSN
- 0001-4842 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-4898
- OpenAlex
- W2944501797
- Cited by
- 237
- References
- 71
- Citations by year
- 2026: 40 · 2025: 52 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 43 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 5
- FWCI
- 8.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Accounts of Chemical Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Water Research Foundation (4524, 4590)
- Environmental Protection Agency (R835865)
- U.S. Forest Service
- Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
- Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (1512705)
- Joint Fire Science Plan (14-1- 462 06-11)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Water Quality and Resources Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Soil and Water Nutrient Dynamics
- Keywords
- forest fires, drinking water supply, forested watersheds, dissolved organic carbon, nitrogen, turbidity, soil erosion, coagulation efficiency, disinfection by-products, haloacetonitriles, chloropicrin, black carbon, soil heating, nutrient export, river discharge, water treatment, post-fire recovery, trihalomethanes
- MeSH terms
- Wildfires, Carbon, Fresh Water, Nitrogen, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Water Purification, Water Quality, Drinking Water, Forests
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