Dr. Brad Wham and Dr. Erica Fischer perform reconnaissance after the 2021 Marshall Fire

On December 30, 2021, the Marshall Fire impacted the towns of Louisville and Superior, Colorado along with many regions of Unincorporated Boulder County. Brad Wham and Erica Fischer co-led a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded team of engineers through Geotechnical Extreme Event Reconnaissance (GEER) Team to investigate the impacts the fire had on water utilities, slopes, and housing. In addition, Dr. Wham and Dr. Fischer, along with Dr. Andrew Whelton of Purdue University, assisted the City of Louisville in developing a water sampling program to determine if the water within the water distribution system had any VOC contamination. They were able to use the results from this Alfred P. Sloan Foundation project to provide insight into where VOCs may be found within the city limits.

For more information, check out the local media story here and a radio segment here (starting at 10:42).

Water Utility Survey
The team deployed a survey to water utilities around the country. Twenty-three water utilities replied to the survey with information on how they approach hazard mitigation, considerations for choosing pipe materials, and sizes of service laterals.

The municipalities were asked to identify the hazards that imposed risks to their utility district. The figures below show that 74% of them responded that they are at risk for wildfires, 65% are at risk for flooding, and 61% are at risk for earthquakes. However, when considering the pipe material, it is very often not these hazards that control the decision. The results of the survey showed that 87% of the municipalities consider the durability of the pipe material. The next consideration of the municipalities was soil type followed by ease of installation and cost of material at 43%, 39%, and 35% of the municipalities considering these, respectively.