The first clues that fires could contaminate pipes with chemicals came in the fall of 2017 in Santa Rosa, where the Tubbs Fire had destroyed roughly 3,000 homes and commercial buildings. “We can see effects (on water) persist for decades.” Problems in the pipes
“From a water perspective, this is just when the problems are all about to begin - when we put the fire out,” said Kevin Bladon, associate professor of forest ecohydrology and watershed science at Oregon State University. Researchers project that fire could more than double the sediment clogging a third of Western watersheds by 2050. And uncontrolled conflagrations can increase erosion and pollutants that rush into the lakes and reservoirs supplying Californians with water. Roughly two-thirds of its water supply flows from forests that can burn. The threat to water in the West doesn’t stop when the flames go out. “The number of fire impacts I am starting to hear throughout the state is staggering,” he added. “It’s safe to bet that with this year’s fire season the way it is, winds picking up and the magnitude of fire that we’ve got, we’re going to see more (water) systems like this,” said Daniel Newton, assistant deputy director of the state water board’s Division of Drinking Water. That means more fire survivors could come home to find their pipes burned and their water undrinkable. And 640,000 to 1.2 million new homes could pop up in the state’s highest fire risk areas by 2050. Since the 1980s, climate change has more than doubled the hot and dry conditions that combine to create extreme fire weather, according to new research.Īt the same time, more Californians are in harm’s way: between 19, the number of houses built at the edge of nature increased by more than a third. There are 23 major wildfires burning in a record-breaking season that has torn through more than 4 million acres of California, killing 31 people and destroying more than 8,400 structures. ‘We’re going to see more systems like this’ “The Safe Drinking Water Act doesn’t have a clause like, ‘This is what you do in a fire when a community is completely burned to the ground,’” he said. The problems now encountered in California are far beyond the scope of regulations protecting drinking water, said Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the State Water Resources Control Board’s Division of Drinking Water. In a state already plagued by water shortages, the problems in rural California are likely to happen again and again as climate change primes the West to burn. Petrini lost his home in the LNU Lighting Complex Fires and for more than a month afterward was afraid to bathe Levi with tap water for fear of contaminants. “Is it even okay for us to bathe our baby in?” Kody Petrini with his sons, Levi, 16 months, and Steven, 11, in Berryessa Highlands on Sept. We had a catastrophic fire up here, we understand that. “If the water is messed up, we understand. One block - ironically on Clearwater Court - had elevated levels of metals including lead in one hydrant, so residents are still advised not to drink their water. At the end of September, testing in Berryessa Highlands finally revealed no detectable amounts of benzene, a cancer-causing chemical. The month-long wait for results of testing left Petrini and his neighbors in a frustrated limbo, forced to rely upon bottled water distributed by the county. Towns and water agencies also are grappling with advice to give residents in fire-ravaged areas, who are confused by warnings that seem to continuously change about whether their water is safe. The cost of fixing the damage to water systems: up to $150 million in just one small town. And many living in remote stretches of the state struggle with accessing enough water to fight fires.ĭrinking water has been contaminated with hazardous chemicals after at least three California wildfires in recent years: in Santa Rosa after the Tubbs Fire in 2017, in Paradise after the Camp Fire in 2018 and now in parts of the San Lorenzo Valley burned by the CZU Lightning Complex Fires that began in August. Others wrestle with ash and debris washed into reservoirs and lakes. When wildfires spread across California, they leave a cascade of water problems in their wake: Some communities have their drinking water poisoned by toxic substances. In a state plagued by water shortages, rural California has suffered a cascade of water woes in the wake of wildfires that is likely to happen again and again.
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