CEE Seminar: Assessing the Impact of Wildfires on Water Quality

Abstract: The frequency and intensity of wildfires have increased over the past few decades. Wildfires represent an acute perturbation to watersheds, and the impacts include changes in ecosystems, sediment mobilization and overall water quality. The changes in water quality are of particular concern to drinking water utilities. Over the past five years, my group has studied the impacts that wildfires can have on water quality and treatment operations. Among the concerns are the changes that are observed to the soil matrix and the resulting enhancement in the mobilization of dissolved organic matter (DOM). In this presentation, a general discussion regarding the effects of wildfires on water quality will be presented, followed by a detailed discussion regarding the specific effects that thermal alteration has on DOM mobilization. 

Bio: Fernando L. Rosario-Ortiz is an associate professor of environmental engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico and the California Institute of Technology, respectively. He received his doctorate from UCLA in environmental science and engineering in 2006. His current research focuses on environmental photochemistry, impact of watershed perturbations on water quality and characterization of organic matter in different environments.