The impact of the Yosemite Rim fire, which burned over 400 square miles, on water treatment utilizing preozonation was investigated by characterizing total organic carbon (TOC) in surface water samples. Samples containing varied TOC concentrations, generated by adding varying amounts of leachate from ash samples collected at fire sites, were exposed to 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mg/L ozone doses. To forecast operational efficacy of algal degradate removal in a fire-impacted water matrix, four microcystin compounds (MC-LY, MC-YR, MC-RR, AND MC-LA) and Euglina Americana, as a source of geosmin and 2-methylisoborneal (MIB), were added to the water samples containing varied TOC. Liquid chromatography- quadrupole-time of flight-mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS) was used to obtain a molecular fingerprint of the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) fraction of TOC. Molecular fingerprints of each sample were used to characterize changes in DOC structure following varied treatments of ozone. LC-QTOF-MS was used for microcystin analysis, while gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used for geosmin and MIB analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first study to quantify algal degradate removal in the presence of a complicated fire-impacted water matrix.

Analysis of total organic carbon and algal degradates from fire-impacted watersheds: Implications for preozonation water treatment

248th National Meeting (2014)

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