Wildfires Water Response Overview 091124_Finalpdf (1).pdf

Wildfires water

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3. Bill Platten │Contact: [email protected]
Bill Platten is an Environmental Engineer in EPA’s Office of Ground Water and
Drinking Water, where he helps drinking water systems monitor for and respond to
drinking water contamination. His current focus is on response, decontamination,
and recovery for contamination in both drinking water distribution systems and
premise plumbing. He also has research experience in hydraulic and water quality
modeling, municipal and industrial wastewater treatment, and water reuse. He
holds a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering and an M.S. and Ph.D. in
Environmental Engineering from the University of Cincinnati.
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Presenter

4. Samantha Bishop │Contact: [email protected]
Samantha Bishop is an Environmental Engineer with EPA Region 9 in the Drinking
Water Program. Samantha supports oversight of public water systems in Nevada
and Hawai’i, is the regional point of contact for Disaster Resilient Water
Infrastructure, and regional staff lead for the Water Reuse Action Plan. Her past
graduate work includes modeling advanced water treatment and energy processes
to minimize the environmental impacts of water treatment. Samantha has a B.S. in
Environmental Engineering from University of Southern California and a M.S. In
Environmental Engineering from Stanford University.
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Presenter

5. Levi Haupert │Contact: [email protected]
Levi Haupert is a Physical Scientist in EPA Office of Research and Development’s
Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response. His current research
interests include modeling ion exchange filter performance and studying transport
of contaminants in polymers. Levi earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Purdue
University where he studied nonlinear optical properties of crystals.
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Presenter

6. 2023 Maui Wildfires:
Drinking Water Response
Samantha Bishop – EPA Region 9 Water Division
Bill Platten – EPA OGWDW Water Infrastructure and Cyber Resilience Division
9/11/2024

7. 2023 Maui Wildfires
•Four separate fires across Maui
•Began August 8
th
, 2023
•Over 100 fatalities
•Over 7000 survivors displaced
•Over 2000 structures damaged or
destroyed
•Over 6400 acres burned
•Significant impacts to historically and
culturally important structures and
properties
Source: NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) (https://earthdata.nasa.gov/firms)
Source: Google Earth Pro

8. Drinking Water Impacts
•No critical drinking water facilities (plants, pumps) were damaged by the fires
•No surface water impacts were observed
•Two systems operated by the County of Maui Department of Water
Supply (DWS) had distribution impacts
•Upper Kula (~18 structures damaged)
•Power loss, couldn’t pump uphill, storage tanks drained
leading to pressure loss
•Pressure loss => possible contamination
•Lahaina (>2000 structures damaged)
•Large-scale structure damage led to leaks and
pressure loss, even with continued pumping
•Pressure loss => possible contamination

9. DWS Initial Response
•Isolated the impacted areas of the drinking water systems
•Repressurized where feasible in short timeframe
•Issued an Unsafe Water Advisory (UWA)
•Bacterial (pressure loss) and wildfire contamination (structures)
•Provided water buffalos for drinking water
•Removed meters from all damaged structures
•Hawaii Department of Health Safe Drinking Water Branch (HDOH) provided support and
trained DWS sampling teams to collect VOC samples
•Began sampling immediately
•Hydrants and standpipes near the burned structures
•Areas with standing structures under the UWA
•Areas outside the UWA, including at schools, police stations, and civic buildings

10. DWS Initial Response
Source: Maui County Department of Water Supply

11. DWS Response
•Closed valves strategically to isolate small areas
with a single valve.
•Installed an overland by- pass to connect two
minimally impacted areas
•Opened small areas slowly to identify open lines
and leaks, flush the area sufficiently
•Developed a flow chart to guide
sampling/clearance decision-making
•Implemented a Sampling and Analysis Plan (SAP)
to assess contamination

12. DWS Sampling and Analysis Plan
•Chlorine (Hach 8021/test strips), Total Coliform (SM9223B
Colilert‐18 P/A), VOCs (EPA Method 524.2), and SVOCs
(EPA Method 525.2)
•Delineated sampling areas based on hydraulics and valving
•Distribution sampling at hydrants and standpipes
•Followed standard methods for sample collection
•Service lateral sampling at damaged structures
•Allowed water to stagnate for 72-hours before sample collection
•Sampling apparatus installed to allow sample collection
•QA/QC, SOPs, chain- of-custody

13. DWS Response
•Contamination was anything above
detection, even if below the MCL
•If contamination was found:
•Flush water mains and/or replace hydrants
•Re-sample for distribution system
•Isolate and/or replace service laterals
•Started isolating at the corp. stop but eventually
began replacing the lines to the meter.
•Identified some areas for capital improvements, no
sampling was conducted

14. EPA Drinking Water Support
•EPA Region 9 Water Division began supporting HDOH Safe Drinking Water Branch and
DWS immediately after the fire.
•Office of Water supports the Regional Offices and joined Region 9’s effort
•On 8/13/2023, FEMA issued a mission assignment to EPA under ESF #3 (Public Works and
Engineering) to support water and wastewater with preliminary damage assessments
and technical assistance.
•EPA staff advised DOH and DWS on impacts, response, sampling procedures, plan
development, and communications
•Nature of contamination, sampling methods, stagnation
•Reviewed system plans and hydraulics to assess potential impacts and select locations for
sampling

15. EPA Drinking Water Support
•By January, DWS had cleared the Upper Kula system and the areas of the Lahaina system
outside the burn zone
•Priority was given to areas with standing structure
•In February, EPA received a FEMA mission assignment to begin direct support for
sampling, analysis, and service lateral isolation for the remaining areas.
•EPA was working to support, DWS was the decision- maker
•Sampled the remaining distribution system and service laterals to damaged structures
•135 hydrants
•1308 service laterals
•Isolated service laterals
•589 by EPA, 169 by DWS
•EPA completed its support on July 20
th
•DWS lifted the UWA on August 2
nd

16. August 13, 2023: EPA
Begins Technical Assistance
Timeline of Drinking Water Response
August 8, 2023:
Wildfires Occur
July 20, 2024:
End of EPA Assistance
August 2, 2024:
UWA lifted
February 2, 2024: EPA
Begins Sampling SupportUpper
Kula
Lahaina
8/23 9/23 10/23 11/23 12/23 1/24 2/24 3/24 4/24 5/24 6/24 7/24 8/24
Note: EPA also conducted household hazardous waste removal and wastewater sewer inspection, and served in a sustainability advis or role

17. Challenges
•Existing System Conditions:
•Old infrastructure, water challenged
•Two systems in different parts of the island
•Very complex hydraulics due to island topography
•Dual service laterals
•Master meters
•Response Logistics
•Samples were shipped to the mainland, delays in shipping, wouldn’t make
temperature
•Getting supplies (sampling supplies, hydrants, pipe) to the island was difficult, limited
stock available on-island

18. Challenges
•Staffing challenges
•DWS has a small staff that was also responsible for DWS’s other water systems
•EPA staff rotations
•Employed cultural experts to monitor culturally sensitive areas
•Sampling Challenges
•Identifying damaged structures, locating meters
•Identifying structures sharing laterals
•Ensuring stagnation times, sample collection procedures for VOCs and SVOCs
•Lateral damage preventing sampling
•Isolation Challenges
•Locating laterals
•Coordinating EPA and DWS operations

19. Service Lateral Sampling
Source: Maui County Department of Water Supply

20. Lateral isolation

21. Current and Future Work
•Recovery
•Long-term monitoring
•Operating all of the distribution system but none of the water demand
•Replace service laterals and reconnect water meters as structures are rebuilt
•Complete capital improvement projects
•EPA received a recovery mission assignment for continued technical assistance
•Shipping damaged hydrants to EPA ORD for further investigation
•Analyze contaminant results from DWS and EPA’s combined efforts
•Occurrence, spatial, elevation, concentration ranges
•Compile field notes and lessons-learned from implementation of sampling
and lateral isolation

22. •https://www.epa.gov/waterutilityresponse/build-wildfire-resilience
•https://www.mauirecovers.org/water
•https://www.epa.gov/maui-wildfires
•Household Hazardous Waste
•Sustainability
•Water and Wastewater
More Information

23. Mahalo
•Samantha Bishop – [email protected]
•Bill Platten - [email protected]

24. Uptake and Release of Wildfire- Associated
Contaminants in Drinking Water Pipes
Levi M Haupert, Ph. D
Physical Scientist
ORD-CESER-WID
Office of Research and Development
Homeland Security Research Program
September 11, 2024

25. Uptake and Release of Wildfire-Associated
Organics from Polyethylene Pipes
•Hazardous organic chemicals, including
benzene, were found in drinking water
systems affected by wildfires.
•Many benzene detections higher than federal
regulatory levels (5 µg/L)
•California Wildfires:
•Santa Rosa (2017- 2018)
•Paradise (2018- 2019)
•Riverside Grove (2020)
•Oregon Wildfires (2020)
•Hawaii Wildfires (2023)
•HDPE service lines and PEXin buildings are
permeable tobenzene.
•Permeated pipes can complicatesampling
and decontamination strategies
Forest fire: Cameron Strandberg 2009. Creative Commons 2.0 License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
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26. Benzene and Polyethylene Pipes
•Benzene can penetratepolyethylene pipe walls.
•Polyethylene canact as a reservoirfor benzene.
•Benzene movement through polymersis
(relatively) slow.
•Resistance to decontamination by flushing.
•False negative samplingfrom recently flushed pipes.
•GOAL: Use experiments and modeling to:
•Interpret sampling results
•Evaluate decontamination strategies
•Build system resilience
26

27. Modeling Transport of Organics in Walls of
Stagnant Pipes
•Haupert and Magnuson (2019)
developed adiffusion model
forstagnant pipes.
•Premise plumingis typically
stagnantmuch of the time.
•Model demonstrated on toluene
and PEX.
•Can be adapted to benzene and PEX
plumbing or HDPE service
lineswithappropriatediffusion and
equilibrium parameters.
27

28. Uptake and Release Experiments
•Sealed pipe segments
arecontaminated with
benzenesolution (~300 mg/L in
ultrapure water) for several weeks.
•Benzenein water is measured at the
end ofcontamination period.
•Water is measured and changed daily
(except weekends and holidays).
•Longer stagnation times allowed
morebenzene release.
•Uptake and release from (pristine)
copper and stainless-steel pipes
wastiny.
28
Benzene Leaching

29. Modeling Results
•Model was able to match data from the
experiment.
•Partition coefficients (????????????
????????????,????????????) did not
varygreatly (min:23, max:26) across pipes
studied (HDPEand PEX-b).
•Diffusion coefficients (???????????? ) for all studied
HDPE pipes were within afactor of 2 of
Mao's estimates.
•Varied with size and manufacturer, but with no
clear pattern.
•Tests changing only contaminant contact time
found same diffusion coefficients.
•Suggests material or process variability in pipe
manufacturing.
29
Haupert, et al., Benzene Diffusion and Partitioning in Contaminated Drinking Water Pipes under
Stagnant Conditions. ACS ES&T Water, 2023, 3, 8, 2247- 2254.

30. Parameter Sensitivity
•Even with variance in ???????????? larger than found in
experiments, model still predicts similar
long-term behavior.
•Long term behavior is likely more
operationally relevant than results of the
first couple of flushes.
•Sensitivity analysis of ????????????
????????????,???????????? yields similar
conclusions.
•For scenarios like the ones in this study,
model results should be robust against small
errors in parameters.
•What about temperature?
30

31. Temperature Effects: Partitioning
•Premise pluming: Hot and cold pipes
•Tested range: 4 – 60 °C
•Partitioning strength: no practical effect
•However, diffusion is known to be
faster at higher temperatures
31
Benzene

32. Temperature Effects: Decontamination
•Diffusion rates for both contamination
and decontamination are faster at
higher temperature
•Permeation
•Volatility
•Flushing
•Higher temperature pipes absorbed
more benzene, but leached less
•Additional work needed for pipe sizes
and wall thicknesses
32
Benzene Leaching, ½” HDPE

33. Discussion
•Modeling can be applied to contamination and
use patterns to help interpret sampling results
and inform cost/benefit analysis of benzene
contamination of PEX and HDPE pipes.
•Can be applied to otherorganic contaminantsif
parameters are measured or can be estimated.
•Several unanswered questions remain.
•Where do contaminants come from during wildfires?
•Are fire-affected pipes different from pristine?
•Why are contaminants detected in metal pipes?
Image provided by the California Division of Drinking Water.
33

34. Fire-conditioned pipes
•Ongoing research project with EPA Region 9
•Paul Lemieux
•Matthew Magnuson
•William Platten
•Luis Garcia- Bakarich (R9)
•Expose pipes to smoke and hot gasses at burn
facility in Research Triangle Park
•Wood fuels
•HDPE, PVC, and Copper pipes
•GOAL: provide insight into mechanism of
contamination and help water systems build
resilience.
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Image credit: Jacobs Technology, Inc.

35. Initial Combustion Chamber Design
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Image credit: Jacobs Technology, Inc.

36. Temperature Tuning
•Goal: Heat pipes enough to cause physical
effects, but also keep some pipes intact.
•Preliminary tests used ovens rather than
burn stack to avoid incineration and
contamination of chamber.
•HDPE pipes deformed more than PVC at
higher temperatures.
•Burn stack tuned accordingly.
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Image credit: Jacobs Technology, Inc.

37. Revised Design
•Practical design was challenging.
•Tests with pipes are in progress.
•Planned analysis:
•Compare VOCs in exhaust with those
extracted from pipes.
•Compare decontamination of fire-
conditioned and pristine pipes
•Project completion expected in early
2025
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Image credit: Jacobs Technology, Inc.

38. Team
•Levi Haupert
•Matthew Magnuson
•Paul Lemieux
•William Platten
•Luis Garcia-Bakarich
•Jonathan Sawyer
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•Dahman Touati (Jacobs)
•Donald Schupp (Aptim)
•Nicole Sojda (Aptim)

39. Thank you!
Levi Haupert, PhD
[email protected]
Office of Research and Development
Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response
EPA Homeland Security Research Program
https://www.epa.gov/emergency-response-research/water-security
Disclaimer: This presentation has been subjected to the Agency’s review and has been approved for public presentation. The
views expressed in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the
Agency. Mention of trade names, commercial products, and/or services does not imply an endorsement or recommendation
for use by the U.S. Government or EPA.
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