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Risk Management Prepare for Watershed Events to Enhance Water Treatment
Author(s) -
Lane Diana,
Cromwell John,
Strange Elizabeth
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
opflow
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1551-8701
pISSN - 0149-8029
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8701.2010.tb02343.x
Subject(s) - flood myth , watershed , urbanization , water quality , environmental science , vegetation (pathology) , scale (ratio) , environmental resource management , water resource management , watershed management , storm , environmental planning , quality (philosophy) , water resources , computer science , ecology , geography , meteorology , medicine , philosophy , cartography , archaeology , epistemology , pathology , machine learning , biology
After major events such as a wildfire, hurricane, flood, or mudslide, utilities may have to shift to emergency operations because of water quality variables outside the range of normal treatment processes. The risks depend on the ecological and sociological characteristics of a utility's watershed and the utility's collection, storage, treatment, and distribution systems. This article discusses four suggestions for utilities to consider for minimizing risks to their drinking water supplies: assessing specific risks with respect to large‐scale vegetation changes; understanding the impact of fire, storm, and urbanization events on water quality and quantity; understanding potential management strategies that can help reduce risks of large‐scale vegetation changes or mitigate the effects of these changes; and, learning from experiences of other water utilities that have coped with major events and their aftermath.