How Do Wildfires Affect Our Water?

Media

Sources/Usage: Some content may have restrictions. View Media Details

How Do Wildfires Affect Our Water? 

Objective:

Students will learn how wildfires impact watersheds and water quality and think critically about how people and communities can adapt to these changes. This activity aligns with Next Generation Science Standards for high school science education.

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Standards:

• DCIs: ESS2.C: the roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes, ESS3.A: Natural resources, ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems, ESS3.D Global Climate Change
• CCCs: Cause and effect, stability and change, systems and systems models, energy and matter
• SEPs: Developing and using models, analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations and designing solutions, engaging in argument from evidence.

Key Terms:

• Watershed - A watershed is an area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a common outlet such as the outflow of a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any point along a stream channel.
• Aquifer - layer of underground rock and soil that holds groundwater.
• Debris flow - rapid mass movement where a mixture of loose soil, rock, organic matter, air, and water mobilizes as a slurry that flows downwards.
• Turbidity - measure of the level of particles such as sediment or organic matter, in a body of water
• Sedimentation - the process where eroded sediment (soil, rock fragments, etc.) is deposited by water, wind, ice, or gravity
• Eutrophication - the process where a water body becomes enriched with plant nutrients, most commonly phosphorus and nitrogen. This enrichment leads to excessive algal growth 

Think - Individually

Think about the last time you saw news about a wildfire. What effects do you think wildfires have on the environment, specifically on our water sources. How might this impact water supplies throughout the United States? 

Using the following data visualization page from USGS VizLab to complete the activity.

https://labs.waterdata.usgs.gov/visualizations/fire-hydro/index.html#/

Media

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

Review - Pair or Group Discussion 

After reading the passage on the page, ask students to define or discuss the following in pairs or groups. 

1. What is a watershed?

2. What role do forests play in keeping our water clean?

3. How do wildfires change the way water moves through a watershed?

Analyze and Reflect - Answer individually or in small groups 

Media

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

Comprehension

1. Why are wildfires becoming more dangerous in the western U.S.?

2. What happens to the soil after a wildfire?

3.  How do these soil changes affect rainfall and flooding?

4. What kinds of things might get into the water after a fire?

Data Interpretation - On the visualization, look at the data from 1984 to 2020.

1. On the map of the western U.S., what do the orange areas represent? What do the blue areas represent?

2. What is the bar graph below the map showing? 

3. What trend do you notice about the number of acres burned by wildfire over time? How does this trend relate to the areas being burned near watersheds? 

4. How might this trend impact the water supply for people in the western U.S.?

Media

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

Challenge - Design a Water Safety Plan 

Imagine your town is downstream of a forest that just had a big wildfire. You are part of the water management team. Come up with three actions you would recommend to help protect your town’s drinking water from pollution and sediment after the fire. Use ideas from the reading!