Abstract

Following wildfires, water quality in forested watersheds is prone to degradation, impacting drinking water treatment and causing increased emissions due to additional energy consumption. We explore the potential for climate-based financing to support wildfire mitigation and watershed restoration and thereby reduce potential water treatment energy demand within the Provo River watershed of Utah, USA. Pre- and post-wildfire erosion and water quality in the Provo River is modeled using GeoWEPP. Energy data from the Don A. Christiansen drinking water treatment plant in the watershed and related literature data are used to estimate the increase in energy use for treating degraded water. We find that most watershed areas are not subject to large changes, but a few hotspots are prone to increased sediment. In the Provo River watershed, on average, a fire in a single 12-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC12) sub-watershed corresponds to an additional 350 metric tons of carbon-dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) emissions for one year following a wildfire event due to increased energy by the water treatment plant. If wildfire risk is reduced, the avoided emissions can have significant social benefits while generating a potential of $88,500 annually in carbon credit revenue (at $10/credit) for the HUC8 sub-basin contributing to the Don A. Christiansen water treatment plant. With approximately 2,400 HUC8 sub-basins across the conterminous United States, this suggests a top-level potential of $200 million in annual carbon credit revenue associated with mitigating the impact of wildfires on water treatment plants.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering; Civil and Environmental Engineering

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2024-03-22

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd13537

Keywords

water treatment, energy-water nexus, watershed, wildfires, erosion, GeoWEPP, carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions, water quality trading

Language

english

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