The Texas Water Journal has published a new article in Volume 15, titled Best Management Practices to Mitigate Contamination of Karstic Aquifers from Emergency Fire-Control Runoff by Rudolph A. Rosen, Geary M. Schindel, Ronald Green, and Walter Den.
Fires happen, whether in a karstic aquifer’s recharge zone or above an impermeable aquifer. Situations occur where first responders and public safety officials suspect that hazardous material (HAZMAT) carried in firefighting runoff may have entered the subsurface at a disaster site during fire control in a recharge zone.
In the article, the authors describe best management practices (BMPs) that will increase the resilience of karstic aquifer drinking water supplies. These BMPs emphasize on-site, real-time evaluation of the transport and fate of HAZMAT that may spill into the aquifer and focus on water quality sampling, runoff and groundwater flow modeling, non-toxic dye tracing, and related studies for use in planning before an event, during an event and after emergency response has ended.
A comprehensive menu of actions, including BMPs, tools, curricula and training, is described in this and earlier work by the authors that can help in mitigating risks to people and the environment.
Read the full article to learn more.
The journal — an online, peer-reviewed journal published by the nonprofit the Texas Water Journal, the Texas Water Resources Institute and the Bureau of Economic Geology — publishes papers as they are completed. It is devoted to the timely consideration of Texas water resources management, research and policy issues from a multidisciplinary perspective that integrates science, engineering, law, planning and other disciplines. It also provides updates on key state legislation and policy changes by Texas administrative agencies.
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