Factors Influencing Wildfire Impacts on Water Supply
There are different factors which influence transportation of nutrients and sediments from landscape to surface water, which includes soil burn severity, topography and weather conditions (wind and precipitation) (Singh et al., 2017). Among the factors, most important is soil burn severity defined as measure of fire’s effect on the soil and ground cover. Fire severity can as well be classified as low, moderate or high depending on the amount, type and condition of fuels, the degree to which they are consumed by the fire and amount of heat transferred into the soil profile during the fire (Oropeza & Heath, 2013). Figure 3 illustrates different factors which influence impact levels of wildfire in a watershed, starting from watershed and wildfire characteristics to available water treatment systems.
Figure 3: Influencing factors at each stage for wildfire impact assessments to water supplies and treatment (Adopted from Emelko & Sham, 2014)