New PCIC Science Brief: Water-Quality Impacts from Climate-Induced Forest Die-Off

PCIC Science Briefs are a regular series of brief reports on recent climate science literature, relevant to stakeholders in the Pacific and Yukon Region of Canada. PCIC has developed these briefs because we recognize the need for a bridge between the cutting edge of climate science research and the various stakeholders who need access to this knowledge, in plain-language reports, filtered for regional relevance, and suitable for consideration in planning and adaptation. The PCIC Science Briefs contextualize and explain the results and implications of important scientific findings.

This fifth Science Brief focuses on recent research in the journal Nature Climate Change by Mikkelson and colleagues (2013). They examined data from municipal water supplies that draw their water from mountain pine beetle-infested sources. They found that such water supplies had higher concentrations of both organic carbon and potentially harmful disinfection byproducts. This work is potentially important for those in BC whose water supplies draw from regions with mountain pine beetle infestations.

Read this Science Brief.

Mikkelson, K.M, E.R.V. Dickenson, R.M. Maxwell, J.E. McCray and J.O. Sharp, 2013: Water-quality impacts from climate-induced forest die-off. Nature Climate Change, 3, 218–222.