RII Track-4: NSF: Understanding Wildfire Risks to Drinking Water Source Waters: Pyrogenic Changes to Organic Matter and Disinfection By-product Formation

RII Track-4：NSF：了解饮用水源水域的野火风险：有机物的热原变化和消毒副产品的形成

基本信息

批准号：
2229313
负责人：
David Hanigan
金额：
$ 24.77万
依托单位：
Board of Regents, NSHE, obo University of Nevada, Reno
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2023
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2023-02-01 至 2025-01-31
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2229313&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
RII Track NSF Understanding Wildfire

项目摘要

Wildfires are growing in size, severity, and frequency due to drought, forest management, and climate change. Wildfire mobilizes soil organic matter through partial combustion. This partially combusted organic matter is then transported after precipitation events to downstream drinking water treatment plants. Disinfection is a key component of drinking water treatment and inactivates pathogens. However, the chemicals used for disinfection also react with the diverse organic compounds present in all water sources. Some of these reactions result in the production of carcinogenic disinfection by-products, which have regulatory limits in finished drinking water set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. There is currently conflicting evidence of whether partially combusted soil organic matter causes more or fewer disinfection by-products to form than would otherwise, leaving uncertainty about the future security of water supplies in wildfire-prone regions. The overarching goal of this research is to understand how fire severity affects the formation of disinfection by-products at downstream drinking water treatment plants. To achieve this goal, the PI and a graduate student will travel to and conduct experiments at the University of Colorado-Boulder in collaboration with wildfire and organic matter experts currently serving as faculty.This Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-4 EPSCoR Research Fellows (RII Track-4:NSF) project will provide a fellowship to an Assistant Professor and training for a graduate student at the University of Nevada Reno. This work would be conducted in collaboration with researchers at the University of Colorado-Boulder. The PI and one graduate student will 1) learn new organic matter characterization methods from experts in the field and apply them to Caldor Fire samples collected near the PI’s home institution, and 2) apply the learned skills to samples produced under highly controlled laboratory conditions. Success of the two aims will prove or disprove the overall hypothesis, that moderate wildfire severity results in the greatest production of disinfection by-product precursors, which are destroyed at higher temperatures (e.g., above 350°C). The rationale for the proposed research is that disinfection by-products are hazardous to human health, and mitigating exposure (i.e., meeting regulatory standards) is challenging for drinking water utilities without an understanding of how specific fire conditions affect pyrogenic organic matter mobilization and reactivity. The findings will advance the fundamental knowledge of wildfire impacts on organic matter contained in drinking water source catchments, which is somewhat well understood in terms of material transport, but not well understood in terms of potential oxidation chemistry involving disinfectants and transport of small, drinking-water-regulated, pyrogenic molecules. The findings will also inform scientists, regulators, and local utilities of the potential for regulatory exceedances during and after wildfire events. The collaborative research will ultimately improve the research capacity of the home institution and benefit the State of Nevada, which is the driest state in the nation and subject to both water scarcity and wildfire. A graduate student will also benefit through exposure to subject matter experts, improving their technical and communication skills, and providing networking opportunities. One to two undergraduate students will gain experience in sampling remote areas.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

由于干旱、森林管理和气候变化，野火的规模、严重程度和频率都在增加。降水事件后，野火通过部分燃烧将土壤有机物输送到下游的饮用水处理厂。然而，用于消毒的化学物质也会与所有水源中存在的多种有机化合物发生反应，其中一些反应会产生致癌消毒副产物，这些副产物受到监管。美国环境保护署对成品饮用水设定的限制目前，关于部分燃烧的土壤有机物是否会比其他方式产生更多或更少的消毒副产品，存在相互矛盾的证据，这给野火中未来供水的安全带来了不确定性。这项研究的首要目标是了解火灾严重程度如何影响下游饮用水处理厂消毒副产物的形成。大学科罗拉多州博尔德分校与目前担任教员的野火和有机物专家合作。该研究基础设施改进 Track-4 EPSCoR 研究人员 (RII Track-4:NSF) 项目将为助理教授提供奖学金，并为研究生提供培训这项工作将与科罗拉多大学博尔德分校的研究人员合作进行。 PI 和一名研究生将 1) 向该领域的专家学习新的有机物表征方法，并将其应用于卡尔多火样品。附近收集的PI 所在机构，以及 2）将学到的技能应用于在高度控制的实验室条件下生产的样品，这两个目标的成功将证明或反驳总体假设，即适度的野火严重程度会导致消毒副产物前体的最大产量。在较高温度（例如，高于 350°C）下会被破坏拟议研究的基本原理是消毒副产物对人类健康有害，并且减轻暴露（即满足监管标准）对于人类来说具有挑战性。饮用水公用事业公司不了解具体的火灾条件如何影响热原有机物的动员和反应性，这些发现将增进人们对野火对饮用水源集水区所含有机物影响的基本了解，这在物质运输方面已经得到了很好的理解，但在潜在的氧化化学消毒剂和受饮用水调节的热原分子的运输方面还没有得到很好的了解。这些发现还将告知科学家、监管机构和当地公用事业公司在野火事件期间和之后可能出现的监管超标情况。合作研究最终将提高所在机构的研究能力，并使内华达州受益，内华达州是美国最干旱的州，并且受到水资源短缺和野火的影响，研究生也将通过接触主题专家而受益，从而提高研究水平。他们的技术和沟通技能，并提供交流机会。一到两名本科生将获得在偏远地区采样的经验。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。