The City of Kimberley has successfully secured $400,000 after an almost eight-year endeavor to investigate the potential impact of wildfires on its drinking water supply. The initiative was prompted by the 2018 Meachen Creek fire, which raised concerns about the vulnerability of local water sources.
Mathieu Bourbonnais, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Okanagan and co-director of the Centre for Wildfire Coexistence, emphasized the importance of understanding the connection between wildfires and drinking water. He highlighted that wildfires have the potential to significantly alter the behavior of water systems, impacting both the quality and availability of drinking water in Kimberley.
Kimberley sources its drinking water from the Mark Creek and Matthew Creek watersheds. A severe wildfire could have long-lasting effects on the city’s water supply, affecting water quality and availability even after the flames have been extinguished. The project aims to identify these risks and develop strategies to mitigate them without compromising the water supply.
The recent Matthew Creek wildfire, which led to an evacuation alert for Kimberley, underscored the risks facing the city’s watersheds. While the fire is not expected to have a major impact on water movement through the watershed, the concern remains for potential future wildfires that could pose a significant threat to Kimberley’s drinking-water sources.
Bourbonnais’s research team at UBC Okanagan is collaborating with the city and ecologist Bob Gray to model potential fire behavior in the Mark Creek watershed. The study will assess forest conditions, weather patterns, and climate change projections up to 2060, focusing on how a severe fire could affect water quality and streamflows.
The project will also help identify areas where forest management practices such as thinning and prescribed burning could reduce wildfire risks. However, Bourbonnais stressed the importance of balancing wildfire mitigation efforts with the preservation of hydrological systems to avoid adverse impacts on water quality and flow.
The research, funded in part by the Columbia Basin Trust and the city, is anticipated to span two years. Its outcomes will not only inform future wildfire mitigation strategies in Kimberley but also serve as a valuable resource for other communities facing similar challenges. Taking proactive measures, Bourbonnais emphasized, is essential to safeguarding drinking water resources in the face of escalating wildfire risks.