| Title | Intersections of wildfire, water and land: using groundwater science to reduce risks to water supplies |
| Download | Download (whole publication) |
| |
| Licence | Please note the adoption of the Open Government Licence - Canada
supersedes any previous licences. |
| Author | de Jong, S; Leybourne, M; Russell, H A J ; DeGeer, H; Strychar, L |
| Source | Regional-Scale Groundwater Geoscience in Southern Ontario: An Ontario Geological Survey, Geological Survey of Canada, and Conservation Ontario Geoscientists Open House; by Russell, H A J; Ford, D; Holysh, S; Priebe, E H; Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 8528,
2019 p. 9, https://doi.org/10.4095/313578  Open
Access |
| Year | 2019 |
| Alt Series | Ontario Geological Survey, Open File Report 6349 |
| Publisher | Natural Resources Canada |
| Publisher | Government of Ontario |
| Meeting | Regional-Scale Groundwater Geoscience in Southern Ontario: Open House; Guelph; CA; February 27-28, 2019 |
| Document | open file |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| Related | This publication is contained in Regional-Scale Groundwater
Geoscience in Southern Ontario: An Ontario Geological Survey, Geological Survey of Canada, and Conservation Ontario Geoscientists Open House |
| File format | pdf |
| Subjects | hydrogeology; environmental geology; Health and Safety; Information and Communications; groundwater; aquifers; groundwater resources; groundwater geochemistry; water quality; surface waters; karst
topography; land use; planning; soil properties; vegetation; sediments; Water supply; Water security; Natural hazards; Drinking water; Water supply |
| Program | Groundwater Geoscience Aquifer Assessment & support to mapping |
| Released | 2019 02 08 |
| Abstract | For over three weeks, fire suppression teams sought to control the 2018 Parry Sound 33 Wildfire (covering 11,362 hectares in northeastern Ontario). Following the fire, the wide spread concern has been
the impact of the Parry Sound 33 Wildfire upon the Key Harbour First Nation's and Henvey Inlet First Nation's water security. This in turn has sparked groundwater geochemistry questions. Our research seeks to understand one question: how can the
post-Parry Sound 33 fire water quality research provide guidance for future ground water research in Southern Ontario and across Canada?
Informed by research from i) post fire mobilization of contaminants into surface water resources; ii) short
term impacts of fire events on karst; and iii) community based fire management, this project has several objectives:
a) Provide gap analysis of the post-fire groundwater for drinking water quality research;
b) Detail how Canadian universities
and research institutions take a strategic view of post-fire water quality research to support land use planning and public health and safety initiatives;
c) Document actionable information products created to communicate to communities how to
manage post fire water quality.
This paper presents preliminary results of our research, noting:
Contamination of high quality potable water in groundwater can occur through natural events such as wildfires because wildfires modify the surface
environment by combusting vegetation and changing soil properties;
Most prior research on post-fire water quality research has focused on surface water to determine fire-prone forested water source areas;
The emerging field of post fire
contamination of water sources is receiving considerable attention, evidenced by the 2018 NSERC funded Water Institute/University of Waterloo project. But there is little research being done to understand the vulnerabilities of groundwater aquifers
to post fire debris, sediment and chemical constituents (indicators that could be included in future assessments).
This paper is intended to inform discussions on the preparation of suitable post fire water management plans in order to maintain
drinking water quality in a cost-effective manner. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
Volume of abstracts for Ontario Geological Survey and Geological Survey of Canada groundwater geoscience Open house with Conservation Ontario. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 313578 |
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