Wildfire Mitigation and Clean Drinking Water Go Hand-in-Glove

By PATRICK DAVIS

Colorado proudly calls itself the Headwaters State.

The snow that falls on our mountains feeds rivers, reservoirs, farms, businesses, and nearly 40 million people. But as Colorado endures another dry summer, low runoff, and pressure on the Colorado River, we need to recognize a simple truth: Protecting Colorado’s water supply begins long before water reaches a reservoir. It begins in our forests.

Having served as associate administrator in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Land and Emergency Management, I learned that protecting human health and the environment often requires looking beyond traditional definitions of pollution. Americans often associate water pollution with industrial discharges, wastewater, or agricultural runoff. Those threats are real. But in Colorado and across the American West, another major threat is too often overlooked: catastrophic wildfire.

The connection between wildfire and drinking water is direct. Healthy forests, wetlands, and riparian areas act as natural water infrastructure. Trees slow rain and snowmelt. Forest soils absorb and filter water. Wetlands trap sediment and pollutants. Vegetation stabilizes slopes and streambanks. These systems improve water quality before water reaches a treatment plant.

When those systems burn, the damage can last for years.

Colorado has seen this firsthand. Fires such as Hayman, Waldo Canyon, East Troublesome, and Cameron Peak burned landscapes that feed critical water supplies. The long-term impacts were significant: erosion, ash, debris flows, damaged streams, stressed reservoirs, and higher treatment costs.

After a severe fire, intense heat can create hydrophobic soils, causing rainfall to run off rather than soak in. That runoff can carry ash, sediment, nutrients, heavy metals, and contaminants into streams, reservoirs, and drinking water systems. Wetlands and riparian areas that once acted as natural filters can become overwhelmed.

In effect, catastrophic wildfire can turn a healthy watershed into a source of pollution.

This is not only a forestry issue. It is a drinking water issue, a public health issue, and part of the mission of protecting human health and the environment.

EPA has long recognized that different regions face different water-quality challenges. In the Chesapeake Bay, nutrient pollution from agriculture, stormwater, and wastewater is a defining concern. In the Great Lakes, industrial contamination, habitat loss, invasive species, and legacy pollution require sustained attention. EPA’s geographic programs are built around a common-sense idea: regional threats require regional solutions.

In the American West, catastrophic wildfire should be treated as one of those regional water threats.

Colorado’s circumstances make the challenge urgent. In dry years, every drop matters. When snowpack is low, runoff is poor, and rivers are stressed, protecting water quality becomes even more important. A severe wildfire in a critical watershed can send sediment, ash, and debris into the reservoirs and streams communities depend on.

Fortunately, Colorado already knows what proactive leadership looks like.

Denver Water recognized years ago that its most important infrastructure is not only pipes, pumps, dams, and treatment plants. It is also the forested watershed that supplies them. Through its “From Forests to Faucets” partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and others, Denver Water has invested in restoration, thinning, fuel reduction, and reforestation to reduce wildfire risk in key source-water areas. The principle is straightforward: protecting watersheds before they burn is far less costly than repairing them afterward.

Colorado Springs Utilities has taken a similar approach through source-water protection, forest health, post-fire restoration, and watershed management projects that safeguard drinking water for the Pikes Peak region. These utilities understand what more policymakers should: clean drinking water starts at the source.

That should guide our policy choices.

Forest thinning, prescribed fire, watershed restoration, wetland protection, and fuel-reduction projects should not be viewed only as forestry or conservation programs. They are investments in public health infrastructure, drinking-water security, and Colorado’s economic future.

The choice before us is straightforward. We can invest before catastrophe, or spend far more afterward on emergency response, flood recovery, reservoir dredging, infrastructure repair, and expanded water treatment.

Colorado’s identity as the Headwaters State carries both a privilege and a responsibility. The water that begins as snow in our mountains sustains communities from Denver and Colorado Springs to farms, cities, and river systems across the West.

Healthy forests, resilient wetlands, and protected watersheds are not simply environmental assets. They are critical infrastructure.

If we are serious about securing Colorado’s water future, wildfire mitigation must be recognized as a core clean drinking water strategy. Reducing catastrophic wildfire risk is not merely a forestry priority. It is one of the most important steps we can take to protect future generations.

Patrick Davis is the former senior advisor for public engagement and associate administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.