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Santa Rosa water official: speed and coordination prevented widespread post-fire contamination
Summary
Jennifer Burke, director of Santa Rosa Water, said the utility learned to reestablish pressure, flush and test quickly after the Tubbs Fire and used those procedures to avoid contamination in later incidents; she urged continued funding for infrastructure resilience and regional coordination.
Jennifer Burke, director of the City of Santa Rosa Water Department, told the committee that during the 2017 fires her utility discovered wildfire-related contamination of the water system and spent a year recovering Fountain Grove. She said the learning led to a published "wildfire concept of operations plan for water distribution system testing and recovery" created in partnership with the Water Research Foundation and Purdue.
Burke explained the operational checklist: reestablish pressure, flush distribution lines promptly, and begin testing. "We went out quickly implemented this checklist and we had no contamination issues whatsoever" in the 2020 Glass Fire, she said. She also described infrastructure hardening: replacing generator fuel systems (diesel tanks to ensure power after propane failed during fires) and investing in mutual-aid coordination and drills with regional water agencies.
Burke urged continued state funding for a mix of infrastructure and smaller resiliency grants and recommended legislative support for regional coordination rather than a single statewide approach. Her testimony underscored that water systems are supportive partners in wildfire response but cannot fight wildfires themselves, and that protecting source waters and coordinating vegetation management across watersheds is necessary to preserve drinking-water quality.
