Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID CO-2023-R05

Evaluation of Simulated Wildfire and WUI-fire Ash Through Toxicological Assays

Institute: Colorado
Year Established: 2023 Start Date: 2023-09-01 End Date: 2024-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $10,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $10,000

Principal Investigators: Cresten Mansfeldt

Project Summary: This research is intended to characterize the toxicity of ash generated from untreated wood in comparison with that produced from building materials. This project will simulate the effects of runoff from wildland fires and wildland urban-interface fires through standardized tests used to assess toxicity for aquatic life, agricultural seed germination, and activated sludge. Elemental analysis will be performed on ash leachates in order to explain observed differences in toxicity. Results from this project will help to accomplish the Colorado Wildfire Ready Watersheds program framework's goal to identify watersheds which are vulnerable to wildfire, by resolving whether compositional differences in ash due to urbanization are a major toxicity risk factor.