| Affiliation: | 1. Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada;2. Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA;3. Department of Forest Engineering, Resources and Management, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA;4. Division of Hydrologic Sciences, Desert Research Institute, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA;5. Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland;6. Geography and Biosciences Departments, College of Science, Swansea University, Swansea, UK;7. Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden;8. UNEP/GRID-Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland;9. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA;10. School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia;11. Department of Civil, Construction, & Environmental Engineering, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA;12. South Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA CE3C – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal;13. Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands;14. Alluvium Consulting Australia, Cremorne, Victoria, Australia;15. School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia;16. Rocky Mountain Research Station, Human Dimensions, USDA Forest Service, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA;17. School of Earth, Environment & Society, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada;18. Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA |
| Abstract: | 2020 is the year of wildfire records. California experienced its three largest fires early in its fire season. The Pantanal, the largest wetland on the planet, burned over 20% of its surface. More than 18 million hectares of forest and bushland burned during the 2019–2020 fire season in Australia, killing 33 people, destroying nearly 2500 homes, and endangering many endemic species. The direct cost of damages is being counted in dozens of billion dollars, but the indirect costs on water-related ecosystem services and benefits could be equally expensive, with impacts lasting for decades. In Australia, the extreme precipitation (“200 mm day −1 in several location”) that interrupted the catastrophic wildfire season triggered a series of watershed effects from headwaters to areas downstream. The increased runoff and erosion from burned areas disrupted water supplies in several locations. These post-fire watershed hazards via source water contamination, flash floods, and mudslides can represent substantial, systemic long-term risks to drinking water production, aquatic life, and socio-economic activity. Scenarios similar to the recent event in Australia are now predicted to unfold in the Western USA. This is a new reality that societies will have to live with as uncharted fire activity, water crises, and widespread human footprint collide all-around of the world. Therefore, we advocate for a more proactive approach to wildfire-watershed risk governance in an effort to advance and protect water security. We also argue that there is no easy solution to reducing this risk and that investments in both green (i.e., natural) and grey (i.e., built) infrastructure will be necessary. Further, we propose strategies to combine modern data analytics with existing tools for use by water and land managers worldwide to leverage several decades worth of data and knowledge on post-fire hydrology. |
