After the Fire is Gone: Soiled Water Quality

Wildfires impact the hydrology and water quality of surface waters that drain burned areas. However, the environmental and watershed factors that drive post-wildfire water quality are not well understood. USGS scientists have created a conceptual framework that considers links among the many explanatory factors of wildfire and resulting changes to water quality and availability in streams. From snowmelt to water table elevation, the multitude of factors can aid wildfire science researchers during study design or data interpretation in burned watersheds.

Precipitation and burn severity are most frequently related to post-wildfire impacts. In contrast, factors that are relatively infrequently studied may still impair water quality, increase drinking water treatment, and increase streamflow. The USGS analysis identified several knowledge gaps that can be filled by long-term soil health and water quality monitoring, conducting studies in geographic regions affected by wildfire but where little data exists, expanding current observations to better understand shifts in baseflow contributions, and expanding chemical analyses to include organic contaminants.

Efficient Water Quality Data Management

Working closely with local, state and federal agencies, KISTERS understands the importance of highly efficient data management. Governments and utilities alike need to overcome under-staffing and knowledge gaps to assure communities that they have access to clean, safe water for drinking, power generation, and recreation.

From water quality monitoring and monitoring equipment maintenance tracking to reconciling lab orders with incorrectly formatted lab EDDs, manual data management is a problem we often see. Insecure, scattered Excel files, paper field sheets, and perhaps a custom database created by a consultant but now unsupported consume significant days and weeks in a year. Wildfire only aggravates the normal monitoring process as the environment and community face higher risks.

We empower organizations that are committed to using high quality data to make decisions that impact tomorrow as well as today. We design sensors and develop software to collect and produce consistent data. Together, we standardize and automate their processes within our software. In turn, users sustain data management on daily, weekly, monthly and annual bases. Data users also have more confidence in the accuracy and reliability of the information.

Inclusion of Soil Characteristics

KISTERS also knows the value of having a single source of truth. We developed the discrete water quality module in response to organizations whose scientists wanted similar data storage, analytics, and visualization options enjoyed by their continuous water measuring counterparts.

Today the system architecture is flexible enough to incorporate soil characteristics as recommended by the USGS Driver-Factor-Stressor-Effect (DFSE) framework. Moreover, system administrators can give users or user groups the ability to revise the user interface without added software development costs.

Federal research soil scientists have been using the system for years. Drainage studies further identification of optimal use of soil and water resources in agriculture, ecosystem management and environmental quality. Similarly, the software and data collected from additional post wildfire monitoring sites and advance understanding of less understood environmental and watershed factors that drive water quality.

Engaging Scientific Partners & the Public

We also recognize that environmental stewardship isn’t accomplished only by professionals. The overall value of data management includes appropriately sharing information with scientific partners and the general public.

We developed an online data portal as customers needed a secure means to share data externally. The portal integrates satellite imagery, monitoring site GPS coordinates, soil and water quality data into a dynamic web browser experience. User administration is flexible, allowing consultants or community members to access information with or without logging in.

Portal visitors can be given options to filter and download approved QA/QC datasets, charts or graphs. The portal can link to drinking water guidelines, monitoring plans, water quality reports before & following the fire(s), and more resources.

Collaboration of public and private scientists will advance the understanding of stressors on water quality and supply in burned watersheds. Long-term monitoring will require engaging youth and encouraging them to continue studies as the next generation of scientists.