第3135期:The wildfire contaminated the reservoir water source

In 2014, California's King Fire blackened 400 square kilometers of forest, massive erosion followed. 2014年，加州国王大火烧毁了400平方公里的森林， 随后发生了大规模的水土流失。

One of Placer County's two reservoirs filled with sediment and had to be dredged, says county water chief Andy Fecko. 普莱瑟县主管安迪·费科表示，该县两座水库中有一座因泥沙淤积而不得不进行疏浚。

Every time we do that, it's a five to seven million dollar cost that you incur. 每次我们进行疏浚，都要花费500万到700万美元。

And you're out of business during the whole time when you're trying to clear those facilities out. And so we incurred those costs several years in a row. 当你试图清理那些设施时，你一直处于停业状态。我们连续几年支付了这些费用。

And he worried about the county's other reservoir, French Meadows, just a few kilometers away. 他还担心几公里外的另一座水库——法国草地水库。

So it was one of these watersheds that was very much under threat of a high-intensity wildfire. 正是这些流域之一受到了一场高强度野火的威胁。

These devastating wildfires are on the rise in the west, experts say, as climate change dries out the forests. 专家表示，随着气候变化导致森林变得干燥，这些毁灭性的野火在西部地区正日益增多。

And a century of misguided management has left them overgrown and extra flammable. 一个世纪的错误管理让它们杂草丛生，变得格外易燃。

Across the west, the unintended consequences threaten reservoirs and their drinking water and hydropower, says Angel Hertslet of the Nature Conservancy. 大自然保护协会的安吉尔·赫茨勒特表示，在西部各地，这些意外后果正威胁着水库及其饮用水供应和水力发电。

There's a growing understanding from water utilities in particular that their water quality, their water quantity is very much impacted by what's happening in the headwaters. 特别是自来水公司越来越认识到，他们的水质和水量在很大程度上受到水源地情况的影响。

Thinning out the forest lowers the fire risk. The forest around the French Meadows Reservoir belongs to the US Forest Service. 疏伐森林可降低火灾风险。法国草地水库周边的森林归美国林务局所有。

But the agency has millions of hectares across the west that need thinning, says district ranger Michael Woodbridge. 地区护林员迈克尔·伍德布里奇说，该机构在西部有上百万公顷的土地需要进行疏伐。

We're always doing as much as we can with the capacity we have, but French Meadows is kind of above and beyond what that capacity would have been. 我们一直在用现有的能力尽力而为，但法国草地水库的情况有点超出了我们现有能力的范畴。

So an unusual partnership formed. The water agency, the Nature Conservancy, state and local governments and others all pitched in to do the planning, raise the money and get the work done. 一种不同寻常的合作关系形成了。水务局、大自然保护协会、州政府和地方政府以及其他各方都纷纷参与进行规划、筹集资金并完成工作。

And we said fantastic if you guys can do that with us, then we can get this work done in this area. 我们说，如果你们能和我们一起做那件事，那我们就可以在这个领域完成这项工作。

The partners say they're going faster and doing more than any group could have done on its own. 合作伙伴们表示，他们比任何独立团队都行动得更快、做得更多。

But it will still take years with millions of hectares across the west at risk of fire and climate change turning up the heat. 但这仍需要数年时间，因为西部数百万公顷的土地面临火灾风险，而且气候变化还在加剧高温。

Water agency manager Fecko says Placer County's reservoirs are a cautionary tale. 水务机构经理费科表示，普莱瑟县的各水库是一个警示案例。

I want them to learn from our experience and start taking really aggressive steps in managing their own watersheds. 我希望他们能从我们的经验中学习，并开始采取非常积极的措施来管理他们自己的流域。

So they don't end up in the same boat that we're in currently. 这样他们就不会落得和我们现在一样的境地。