At the nexus of fire, water and society
Open accessAbstract
The societal risks of water scarcity and water-quality impairment have received considerable attention, evidenced by recent analyses of these topics by the 2030 Water Resources Group, the United Nations and the World Economic Forum. What are the effects of fire on the predicted water scarcity and declines in water quality? Drinking water supplies for humans, the emphasis of this exploration, are derived from several land cover types, including forests, grasslands and peatlands, which are vulnerable to fire. In the last two decades, fires have affected the water supply catchments of Denver (CO) and other southwestern US cities, and four major Australian cities including Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne. In the same time period, several, though not all, national, regional and global water assessments have included fire in evaluations of the risks that affect water supplies. The objective of this discussion is to explore the nexus of fire, water and society with the hope that a more explicit understanding of fire effects on water supplies will encourage the incorporation of fire into future assessments of water supplies, into the pyrogeography conceptual framework and into planning efforts directed at water resiliency. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind’.
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Extreme wildfire events and cascading disastrous consequences on water ecosystem services have been experienced in Australia, Western North America, and elsewhere.
“like those experienced in Australia, Western North America, and elsewhere (Khan et al., 2015; Martin, 2016; McWethy et al., 2019; Robinne et al., 2018).”
From Scientists' warning on extreme wildfire risks to water supply (2021) · cites this paper as Martin, 2016
FireTrol 934 exhibited a toxic effect on zooplankters in lab studies.
“The same chemical was found to exhibit a toxic effect on zooplankters in lab studies (Martin, 2016).”
From Wildfire Induces Changes in Receiving Waters: A Review With Considerations for Water Quality Management (2022) · cites this paper as Martin, 2016
It is unclear how the current fire pattern affects water availability at the regional or continental scale.
“However, it is unclear how this fire pattern affects water availability at the regional or continental scale1–4.”
From Burned forests impact water supplies (2018) · cites this paper as [4]
The outcomes are consistent with existing theories suggesting that multi-year (<10 years) increases in post-fire water yield can increase municipal water supplies during times of water scarcity.
“The outcomes are consistent with existing theories, suggesting that multi-year (i.e., <10 years) increases in post-fire water yield can increase municipal water supplies during times of water scarcity4.”
From Burned forests impact water supplies (2018) · cites this paper as [4]
Cites
Global hydrological cycles and world water resources
Oki, T., & Kanae, S. (2006) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1128845 · Cited by 4,392 · see citing works
Wildfire and the Future of Water Supply
Bladon, K. D., Emelko, M. B., Silins, U., & Stone, M. (2014) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es500130g · Cited by 354 · see citing works
A Global Index for Mapping the Exposure of Water Resources to Wildfire
Robinne, F.-N., Miller, C., Parisien, M.-A., Emelko, M., Bladon, K., Silins, U., & Flannigan, M. (2016) · Forests · doi:10.3390/f7010022 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Audry, S., Akerman, A., Riotte, J., Oliva, P., Maréchal, J.-C., Fraysse, F., Pokrovsky, O. S., & Braun, J.-J. (2014) · Chemical Geology · doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2014.02.016 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
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Paul, M. J., LeDuc, S. D., Lassiter, M. G., Moorhead, L. C., Noyes, P. D., & Leibowitz, S. G. (2022) · Water Resources Research · doi:10.1029/2021wr030699 · Cited by 219 · see citing works
“Fire mobilized metals can also impact aquatic organisms, with potentially lethal and sub-lethal effects including the bioaccumulation of metals in tissue and decreased mobility (Silva et al., 2015, 2016).”
Burned forests impact water supplies
Hallema, D. W., Sun, G., Caldwell, P. V., Norman, S. P., Cohen, E. C., Liu, Y., Bladon, K. D., & McNulty, S. G. (2018) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03735-6 · Cited by 193 · see citing works
Scientists' warning on extreme wildfire risks to water supply
Robinne, F., Hallema, D. W., Bladon, K. D., Flannigan, M. D., Boisramé, G., Bréthaut, C. M., Doerr, S. H., Di Baldassarre, G., Gallagher, L. A., Hohner, A. K., et al. (2021) · Hydrological Processes · doi:10.1002/hyp.14086 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
“…transfer, prevention, and preparedness to face extreme wildfire events and cascading disastrous consequences on water ecosystem services, like those experienced in Australia, Western North America, and else-where (Khan et al., 2015; Martin, 2016; McWethy et al., 2019; Robinne et al., 2018).”
BackgroundNunes, J. P., Doerr, S. H., Sheridan, G., Neris, J., Santín, C., Emelko, M. B., Silins, U., Robichaud, P. R., Elliot, W. J., & Keizer, J. (2018) · Hydrological Processes · doi:10.1002/hyp.11434 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Hallema, D. W., Sun, G., Caldwell, P. V., Norman, S. P., Cohen, E. C., Liu, Y., Ward, E. J., & McNulty, S. G. (2017) · Ecohydrology · doi:10.1002/eco.1794 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
- Authors
- Martin, D. A.
- Affiliations
- United States Geological Survey (US)
- Corresponding author
- Martin, Deborah A.
- ORCID
- Martin, Deborah A.
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2016-06-05
- Volume
- 371
- Issue
- 1696
- Pages
- 20150172
- ISSN
- 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2970
- PMC
- PMC4874410
- OpenAlex
- W2406929285
- Cited by
- 106
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 7
- FWCI
- 1.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Research Program
- Royal Society
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Ocean Engineering › Water resources management and optimization
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Environmental Science and Water Management
- Keywords
- water scarcity, water quality, drinking water, catchment land cover, forests, peatlands, grassland, pyrogeography, urban water supply
- MeSH terms
- Fires, Humans, Water Supply
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