After almost eight years of pursuing funding, Kimberley City has successfully secured $400,000 to investigate the potential impact of wildfires on its drinking water supply. The initiative originated from the 2018 Meachen Creek fire, which highlighted concerns about the susceptibility 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 recognizing the reliance on the environment to provide drinking water. He noted that wildfires are altering the behavior of these natural systems, which are essential for ensuring a consistent water supply.

Kimberley draws its drinking water from the Mark Creek and Matthew Creek watersheds. The project’s objective is to identify potential risks and develop strategies to mitigate them without compromising the water supply.

The recent Matthew Creek wildfire, which prompted an evacuation alert for the entire city during the summer, underscored the immediate risks faced by Kimberley’s watersheds. Despite this, wildland fire ecologist Bob Gray indicated that the fire’s impact on water movement in the watershed is anticipated to be limited, as severe burning occurred in smaller, higher-elevation areas.

However, the concern remains about the potential consequences of a more severe fire affecting Kimberley’s drinking-water watersheds. Severe wildfires have the capacity to disrupt vegetation, soil, and water flow patterns, leading to increased erosion, sedimentation, and altered snow accumulation processes.

Looking ahead, Bourbonnais’s research team at UBC Okanagan, in collaboration with the city and Gray, is analyzing fire behavior in the Mark Creek watershed. The study will assess forest conditions, weather patterns, and climate change projections up to 2060, while also examining the potential impacts of a severe fire on water quality and streamflows.

The research will play a crucial role in identifying areas where forest management practices such as thinning, harvesting, and prescribed burning could help reduce wildfire risks. However, these mitigation measures must be carefully planned to prevent negative impacts on hydrology.

With the Columbia Basin Trust contributing $300,000 and the city providing the remaining $100,000, the project is anticipated to span two years. The outcomes will inform future wildfire mitigation efforts and serve as a valuable resource for other communities facing similar challenges.

Bourbonnais emphasized the importance of proactive measures, stating that the risk of inaction outweighs the risks associated with taking preventive steps.