美国2026年已发生68179起野火 研究显示野火对饮用水的污染影响可持续8年以上
美联社11月13日报道，野火烧焦的树木和植被会冲击为美国大部分地区提供饮用水的溪流和河流，多项新研究显示，这种污染可能持续十多年。2026年迄今，美国已发生68179起野火，过火面积超过950万英亩。
科罗拉多大学博尔德分校的一项研究评估了数百个受野火影响流域的水质，并与未过火地区进行了比较。研究主要作者卡莉·布鲁克说，森林流域为美国近三分之二的市镇供水，而野火对水质的影响可持续长达8年。
蒙大拿州立大学助理教授阿曼达·霍纳说，野火是森林生态系统的自然组成部分，但火势严重程度的上升，使那些收集、过滤和调节水流的流域变得脆弱。
Texas A&M University土木与环境工程副教授加勒特·麦凯说，公用事业公司对野火给水带来的影响极为关切。报道说，燃烧地貌冲刷出的沉积物让水处理厂头疼：水厂通常依赖自然过滤，难以处理野火后升高的重金属和有机物水平，有时不得不临时关闭并寻找替代水源。水库虽然能沉淀泥沙，却容易积聚富含营养的沉积物，可能引发有害藻华。
报道还提到，新墨西哥州Las Vegas在四年前的一场野火之后仍在恢复之中。
Bigger and More-Frequent Wildfires Threaten US Water Supplies, With Contamination Lasting Years, Studies Show
Wildfires leave behind charred trees and scorched vegetation that impact the streams and rivers providing drinking water to much of the United States, and new studies show that contamination could remain for more than a decade, the Associated Press reported on November 13. So far in 2026, there have been 68,179 blazes in the United States, burning more than 9.5 million acres.
A University of Colorado Boulder study assessed wildfire-affected water quality in hundreds of burned basins and compared them with unburned areas. Carli Brucker, the study's lead author, said forested watersheds provide water to nearly two-thirds of municipalities in the United States, and that the impacts on water quality can last up to eight years.
Amanda Hohner, an assistant professor at Montana State University who specializes in wildfires and water quality, said wildfires are a natural part of forest ecosystems, but an increase in their severity has made watersheds, the areas that capture, filter and regulate the flow of water, vulnerable.
Garrett McKay, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Texas A&M University, said utilities are extremely concerned about the impacts wildfires have on water. Sediment washed from burned landscapes is a headache for water-treatment plants, which usually rely on natural filtration and are not equipped to handle the increased levels of heavy metals and organic matter after a wildfire, leading at times to temporary shutdowns and a search for alternative water sources. Reservoirs can act as sedimentation basins but become prone to nutrient-rich sediment build-up that can cause harmful algal blooms.
Las Vegas, New Mexico, is still recovering four years after a fire, the report noted.
来源：美联社
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：野火在山地燃烧、浓烟升起（资料图）。Region 5 Photography 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: A wildfire burning in mountain terrain (file photo). By Region 5 Photography, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
GSM Global · 本篇英文版 English edition of this story
