In response to the catastrophic fires of 2020 in Oregon, the ORWSC teamed up with the Water Mission Area’s Water Availability - Impacts of Extreme Events to quantify and understand the water quality effects in severely burned watersheds. In Oregon, four basins were selected to monitor the quality of the water in streams with continuous sensors and discrete water quality sampling.
Overview:
In 2020, four catastrophic wildfires severely burned four watersheds in Oregon: Clackamas, North Santiam, McKenzie, and North Umpqua. The risk to water supplies associated with wildfires within a watershed could potentially be significant. Post-wildfire watersheds suffer a loss of canopy vegetation, leading to a higher risk of flooding and increased erosion, resulting in the transportation of sediment, nutrients, and other pollutants. The four basins selected in Oregon for post-fire water-quality monitoring are a part of a larger regional study focusing on the modeling and prediction of water-quality impacts in burned watersheds, more information about the regional study can be found here.
The four monitoring sites in Oregon include:
1) Fish Creek (14209700), in the Clackamas watershed.
2) Little North Santiam (14182500), in the North Santiam watershed.
3) Gate Creek (14163000), in the Mckenzie River watershed.
4) Rock Creek (14317600), in the North Umpqua River watershed.
All four monitoring sites are upstream of drinking water providers. The information collected for this study could help drinking water providers understand and adapt to potential changes in water-quality post wildfire.
Project photos:
Water Quality After Wildfire
A call for strategic water-quality monitoring to advance assessment and prediction of wildfire impacts on water supplies
In response to the catastrophic fires of 2020 in Oregon, the ORWSC teamed up with the Water Mission Area’s Water Availability - Impacts of Extreme Events to quantify and understand the water quality effects in severely burned watersheds. In Oregon, four basins were selected to monitor the quality of the water in streams with continuous sensors and discrete water quality sampling.
Overview:
In 2020, four catastrophic wildfires severely burned four watersheds in Oregon: Clackamas, North Santiam, McKenzie, and North Umpqua. The risk to water supplies associated with wildfires within a watershed could potentially be significant. Post-wildfire watersheds suffer a loss of canopy vegetation, leading to a higher risk of flooding and increased erosion, resulting in the transportation of sediment, nutrients, and other pollutants. The four basins selected in Oregon for post-fire water-quality monitoring are a part of a larger regional study focusing on the modeling and prediction of water-quality impacts in burned watersheds, more information about the regional study can be found here.
The four monitoring sites in Oregon include:
1) Fish Creek (14209700), in the Clackamas watershed.
2) Little North Santiam (14182500), in the North Santiam watershed.
3) Gate Creek (14163000), in the Mckenzie River watershed.
4) Rock Creek (14317600), in the North Umpqua River watershed.
All four monitoring sites are upstream of drinking water providers. The information collected for this study could help drinking water providers understand and adapt to potential changes in water-quality post wildfire.
Project photos: