PT EN

Evaluation of Forest Fires’ Impacts on Groundwater Resources

Thematic Area
Water, energy and Food
Location
Central district of Portugal
Application Areas
Water Resources
Scope
R&D
Land cover
Biomass

Entity

Description

Analysis of wildfire impacts on surface & groundwater quantity & quality, using field data (runoff experiment plots, surface water + wells quality, piezometry, etc.), vegetation combustion experiments for chemical cinder characterization, vegetation cover & biomass assessment volume before & after fires, analysis of water budged changes pre & post-fire.

Design of mitigation and prevention strategies to cope with wildfires & reduce its frequency & severity.

Objectives

  • Identification of mitigation & prevention measures.
  • Evaluation of forest fires’ impacts on surface- & groundwater.

Results

Surface & groundwater quality & piezometry characterization pre & after-fire.

Agro-forestry, biomass & soil characterisation pre & after-fire.

Runoff & soil changes assessment after fire.

Characterization of ash pollution potential.

Evaluation of recharge (BALSEQ_MOD model) changes triggered by fires.

Evaluation of pollutant’s concentrations in surface- & groundwater pre & after-fire.

Fire-induced pollution indicators.

Definition of measures for prevention and mitigation of fires.

Next challenges

Pursuing the studies of fire impacts on recharge & runoff.

Pursuing the studies of the temporal evolution of pollution on soils & groundwater.

Implementing the mitigation & prevention strategies.

Implementing monitoring of the efficiency of these measures.