RAPID: Identifying Drinking Water Contamination and Social Vulnerability Impacts from Urban Fires

The devastating wildfires on the Island of Maui in early August 2023 led to significant loss of life, structural damage, and a public and environmental health crisis. The immediate impacts of the wildfires affected thousands in the communities of Lāhainā and Kula, but the breadth of long-term impacts from contamination of drinking water through heat-induced deterioration of building plumbing and municipal water systems remains unknown. As of September 11th, 2023, an unsafe water advisory for these communities remains in effect. The inaccessibility of safe water and uncertainty about the future, combined with the grief, trauma, and collective suffering, heightens these communities’ vulnerabilities and impacts their resilience and adaptive capacity. Thus, it is clear that in urban-wildfire disasters, knowledge that can expedite the detection, isolation, and remediation of water system contamination is critical for community response and recovery in an already tragic situation. Understanding how social justice and equity can be incorporated into decision-support tools to inform water policy solutions can facilitate Maui's rapid recovery and management efforts to serve the socially, ethnically, and economically diverse communities of Hawaiʻi and beyond. This project will use new and innovative approaches to enhance capacity to predict the extent and distribution of wildfire-related water contamination in municipal water distribution systems, particularly for utilities that lack hydraulic models. Using the knowledge gained from a prior contamination crisis on Oʻahu and the networks and relationships developed there, this award will also build on water contamination response and community collaborations to facilitate equitable and timely response to the community's diverse needs. Mapping the wildfire risk of vulnerable communities can support Maui’s future recovery efforts to ensure equity across other socially and economically vulnerable communities at high risk. Transport of wildfire contaminants in drinking water systems remains an incredibly poorly-known issue globally. This research can potentially inform other at-risk municipal drinking water utilities, health departments, and emergency managers by exploring and documenting the response of Maui’s water systems and communities to wildfire-impacts. 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.