Cerro Grande Fire Impact to Water Quality and Stream Flow near Los Alamos National Laboratory: Results of Four Years of Monitoring

Gallaher, B.M.; Koch, Randy

doi:10.2172/835908

Cited by 20 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…After the fi re, hillslope processes included sheetwash and rill erosion and the generation of small debris fl ows . Flood magnitude and suspended sediment fl ux in downstream canyons increased by at least two orders of magnitude (Gallaher and Koch, 2004). The transport of ash from the burn area contributed to a decline in water quality, including high concentrations of fallout radionuclides such as 137 Cs that had accumulated in forest litter (Katzman et al, 2001;Johansen et al, 2003;Gallaher and Koch, 2004).…”

Section: Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Flood magnitude and suspended sediment fl ux in downstream canyons increased by at least two orders of magnitude (Gallaher and Koch, 2004). The transport of ash from the burn area contributed to a decline in water quality, including high concentrations of fallout radionuclides such as 137 Cs that had accumulated in forest litter (Katzman et al, 2001;Johansen et al, 2003;Gallaher and Koch, 2004). Extensive postfi re rehabilitation measures were undertaken in the Cerro Grande burn area, of which the most effective was the application of straw mulch on relatively lowgradient hillslopes (Dean, 2001); ~0.6 km 2 of the watershed above the reservoir was treated with straw mulch in May 2000.…”

Section: Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sediment delivery after a wildfire

Reneau

Katzman

Kuyumjian

et al. 2007

Geol

119

102

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We use a record of sedimentation in a small reservoir within the Cerro Grande burn area, New Mexico, to document postfi re delivery of ash, other fi ne-grained sediment carried in suspension within fl oods, and coarse-grained sediment transported as bedload over a fi ve-year period. Ash content of sediment layers is estimated using fallout 137 Cs as a tracer, and ash concentrations are shown to rapidly decrease through a series of moderate-intensity convective storms in the fi rst rainy season after the fi re. Over 90% of the ash was delivered to the reservoir in the fi rst year, and ash concentrations in suspended sediment were negligible after the second year. Delivery of the remainder of the fi ne sediment also declined rapidly after the fi rst year despite the occurrence of higher-intensity storms in the second year. Fine sediment loads after fi ve years remained signifi cantly above prefi re averages. Deposition of coarse-grained sediment was irregular in time and was associated with transport by snowmelt runoff of sediment stored along the upstream channel during short-duration summer fl oods. Coarse sediment delivery in the fi rst four years was strongly correlated with snowmelt volume, suggesting a transport-limited system with abundant available sediment. Transport rates of coarse sediment declined in the fi fth year, consistent with a transition to a more stable channel as the accessible sediment supply was depleted and the channel bed coarsened. Maximum impacts from ash and other fi negrained sediment therefore occurred soon after the fi re, whereas the downstream impacts from coarse-grained sediment were attenuated by the more gradual process of bedload sediment transport.

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Section: Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sediment delivery after a wildfire

Reneau

Katzman

Kuyumjian

et al. 2007

Geol

119

102

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The losses we found from erosion were also higher than those of total particulate Cu (,15 g ha À1 ) and Zn (,70 g ha À1 ) by stormwater runoff reported by Stein et al (2012) 1-2 years following wildfires in California. Nutrient losses by erosion we measured also exceeded the particulate losses with runoff from the Cerro Grande Fire area (New Mexico), calculated on the basis of the Gallaher and Koch (2004) data assuming that, relative to pre-fire values, the additional mass of metals transported in runoff during the first year come from the burned area. Boron was an exception to the above with calculated losses (Zn, 23 g ha À1 ; Mo, 0.34 g ha À1 ; Mn, 805 g ha À1 ; Al, 3282 g ha À1 ; B, 11 g ha À1 ; Co, 2.4 g ha À1 ; Cu, 4.8 g ha À1 ; Fe, 2070 g ha À1 ) below those we observed in Control and Seeding treatments (see Table 5).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Effects of post-fire soil stabilisation techniques on trace elements lost by erosion

Gómez-Rey

García‐Marco

Fernández³

et al. 2014

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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Abstract. The effect of two post-fire stabilisation techniques (Seeding and Mulching) on trace element (Al, B, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo and Zn) losses with eroded sediments was evaluated over a 13-month period following an experimental fire in a steep shrubland of a temperate-humid region (north-west Spain). With time, concentration of extractable Mn, Zn and Cu in sediments decreased, Fe tended to increase and Al, Co, B and Mo varied without a clear trend. Most sediments and trace element losses occurred during the first 3 months post-fire. Compared with the available elements in ash þ burned topsoil, the fraction lost with sediments was highest for Mo (10-16%), intermediate for Mn (4%) and Zn (3%) and low for the rest (0.4-1.2%). Although minor effects of stabilisation techniques on element concentrations were found, accumulated mass losses of trace elements decreased 6-12 times in Mulching because of its 10-fold lower soil erosion rate; no significant changes were found in Seeding. Sediment nutrient losses are probably more important than those published for smoke, leaching or volatilisation. Our results suggest that the Zn and Cu enrichment in sediments from the first erosion events increase the risk of downslope water and soil contamination. In conclusion, soil stabilisation techniques are useful to prevent post-fire ecosystem damage.

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“…Although the relationship between land cover and water quality has been measured or modeled in numerous watersheds (21,22), the scientific understanding of the global importance of watershed degradation to urban water-treatment costs has been limited to date. Until recently (6), there has been no global dataset of where cities get their water from or of the complex teleconnections between source watersheds and cities.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating watershed degradation over the last century and its impact on water-treatment costs for the world’s large cities

McDonald

Weber

Padowski

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

126

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Urban water systems are impacted by land use within their source watersheds, as it affects raw water quality and thus the costs of water treatment. However, global estimates of the effect of land cover change on urban water-treatment costs have been hampered by a lack of global information on urban source watersheds. Here, we use a unique map of the urban source watersheds for 309 large cities (population > 750,000), combined with long-term data on anthropogenic land-use change in their source watersheds and data on water-treatment costs. We show that anthropogenic activity is highly correlated with sediment and nutrient pollution levels, which is in turn highly correlated with treatment costs. Over our study period , median population density has increased by a factor of 5.4 in urban source watersheds, whereas ranching and cropland use have increased by a factor of 3.4 and 2.0, respectively. Nearly all (90%) of urban source watersheds have had some level of watershed degradation, with the average pollutant yield of urban source watersheds increasing by 40% for sediment, 47% for phosphorus, and 119% for nitrogen. We estimate the degradation of watersheds over our study period has impacted treatment costs for 29% of cities globally, with operation and maintenance costs for impacted cities increasing on average by 53 ± 5% and replacement capital costs increasing by 44 ± 14%. We discuss why this widespread degradation might be occurring, and strategies cities have used to slow natural land cover loss.ecosystem services | History Database of the Global Environment | operations and maintenance H umanity is experiencing the fastest rate of urbanization in history. Over the 20th century, the urban population increased from 220 million to 2.9 billion, and by 2050, another 3.4-billion increase is expected (1, 2). One of the most fundamental requirements of urban existence is a source of clean, sufficient water (3, 4). Urban water supply systems are often complex, drawing water from multiple locations, some surface and some groundwater, some close and some far from the city center (5, 6). Seventy-eight percent of large cities rely on surface water sources (6), and their urban supply systems create teleconnections (7,8) between source watersheds and the urban users who depend on them. The world's largest cities (>750,000 population), the focus of this paper, occupy less than 1% of the Earth's land surface (9) but their source watersheds occupy 41% of its surface (6).Natural land cover in urban source watersheds provides important ecosystem services that help maintain the water quality at the city's water source, so-called raw water that will then be treated and distributed to urban residents (10, 11). Natural land cover stabilizes soil, minimizing erosion and sediment loading (12, 13). Natural land cover also has lower loading than most human land-uses of excess nutrients, such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), and other pollutants (14, 15). When humans convert natural land cover to other uses such as agriculture or hous...

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Cerro Grande Fire Impact to Water Quality and Stream Flow near Los Alamos National Laboratory: Results of Four Years of Monitoring

Cited by 20 publications

References 25 publications

Sediment delivery after a wildfire

Sediment delivery after a wildfire

Effects of post-fire soil stabilisation techniques on trace elements lost by erosion

Estimating watershed degradation over the last century and its impact on water-treatment costs for the world’s large cities

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