Water Resources of Livingston Parish, Louisiana
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Prepared in cooperation with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Water Resources of Livingston Parish, Louisiana Introduction groundwater sources1 (table 1). Withdrawals for public-supply use accounted for nearly 87 percent (11.76 Mgal/d) of the total Information concerning the availability, use, and quality water withdrawn (table 2). Other categories of use included of water in Livingston Parish, Louisiana (fig. 1), is critical industrial, rural domestic, livestock, general irrigation, and for proper water-resource management. The purpose of this aquaculture. Water-use data collected at 5-year intervals from fact sheet is to present information that can be used by water 1960 to 2010 (fig. 2) indicated that water withdrawals peaked managers, parish residents, and others for stewardship of this in 2005 at about 13.9 Mgal/d. The general rise in groundwater vital resource. Information on the availability, past and current withdrawals since 1975 is largely attributable to increasing use, use trends, and water quality from groundwater and withdrawals for public supply from 0.82 Mgal/d in 1960 to surface-water sources in the parish is presented. Previously 11.76 Mgal/d in 2010 (U.S. Geological Survey, 2016). published reports (see References Cited section) and data stored in the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Information 1 System (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis) are the primary sources Water-withdrawal data are based on estimated or reported site-specific data and aggregated data, which are distributed to sources. For a full description of of the information presented here. water-use estimate methodology, see “Data Collection” in Sargent (2011). Tabu- In 2010, about 13.6 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) of lation of numbers across text and tables may result in different totals because of water were withdrawn in Livingston Parish, almost all from rounding; nonrounded numbers are used for calculation of totals. ARKANSAS 90°55' 90°45' 90°35' LIVINGSTON 30°45' TEXAS ST HELENA MISSISSIPPI PARISH PARISH Baton Rouge EAST FELICIANA PARISH EAST BATON ROUGE LOUISIANA PARISH Tickfaw subbasin A GULF OF MEXICO EXPLANATION r e TANGIPAHOA Approximate altitude of base of fresh iv r R e PARISH LIVINGSTON v groundwater, in feet below National i TANGIPAHOA e R it PARISH PARISH Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 m Jasper w A a f (modified from Smoot, 1988)—Deepest equivalent k 30°35' ic freshwater contained within the Jasper T aquifer system H o equivalent aquifer system, except where g B noted r Baptist a 07376000 600 to 699 n Li-52 190 Denham Livingston c Springs h 07376500 700 to 799 LANDVILLE FA Holden NHAM SPR GS-SCOT ULT 2,500 to 2,999 DE IN N 55 a G t 3,000 and deeper 07378500 r a a B l 90°25' y b l a Area where intermediate sands contain s o n C o y 12 Li-185 r d R saltwater e R ek iv iv e e r Approximate boundary of area showing 30°25' r Li-122 deepest freshwater contained within N ROUGE FAULT Amite subbasin BATO overlying Chicot equivalent aquifer 42 system 07380120 Fault at ground surface (modified from A' Colyell Bay McCullo_h, 1991, and Tomaszewski, 2011) Port Lake River subbasin boundary 10 Vincent Maurepas A'A Line of section (see fig. 3) 301500090300000 Well for which hydrograph is shown Chicot equivalent Li-122 ver (see fig. 4) 30°15' Ri aquifer system nd U.S. Geological Survey surface-water ASCENSION li B 07376500 discharge site and number PARISH Amite River Diversion Canal Lake U.S. Geological Survey surface-water Maurepas PARISH 07376000 quality site and number (see table 4) subbasin ST JOHN THE BAPTIST ST JAMES 0 5 10 MILES Base modified from U.S. Geological Survey digital data PARISH Albers Equal-Area Conic projection North American Datum of 1983 0 5 10 KILOMETERS Figure 1. Location of study area, Livingston Parish, Louisiana. U.S. Department of the Interior Fact Sheet 2016–3048 U.S. Geological Survey July 2016 aquifer systems (fig. 3). The aquifer systems have similar Table 1. Water withdrawals, in million gallons per day, by source characteristics: southerly dipping and thickening unconsolidated in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, 2010 (Sargent, 2011; B.P. Sargent, deposits of silt, sand, and gravel separated by discontinuous U.S. Geological Survey, written commun., 2011). layers of clay and sandy clay. Recharge to the aquifer systems Aquifer system or Groundwater Surface water results primarily by infiltration of precipitation in a regional surface-water body area that extends northward from northern Livingston Parish Chicot equivalent 2.17 into southwestern Mississippi about 100 miles (mi) (Griffith, aquifer system 2003). The Denham Springs-Scotlandville Fault and the Baton Evangeline equivalent 4.92 Rouge Fault are east-west trending growth faults that extend aquifer system Jasper equivalent 6.46 aquifer system Miscellaneous streams 0.04 Total 13.55 0.04 Table 2. Water withdrawals, in million gallons per day, by use NORTH SOUTH category in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, 2010 (Sargent, 2011). A A’ FEET FEET DENHAM SPRINGS- SCOTLANDVILLE FAULT ROUGE BATON FAULT ROUGE PARISH BATON EAST LIVINGSTON PARISH LIVINGSTON Use category Groundwater Surface water Total ASCENSION PARISH EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH BATON EAST 400 PARISH LIVINGSTON 400 DENHAM Public supply 11.76 0.00 11.76 SPRINGS 200 200 Industrial 0.10 0.00 0.10 BEND IN SECTION BEND IN SECTION BEND IN SECTION NGVD 29 NGVD 29 Norco Rural domestic 1.40 0.00 1.40 “400-foot” sand aquifer -200 “600-foot” “400-foot” -200 Livestock 0.05 0.04 0.09 “800-foot” sand Chicot equivalent ? sand Gonzales- aquifer system ? New Orleans aquifer General irriga- 0.06 0.00 0.06 -400 ? ? -400 “1,000-foot” sand ? tion “600-foot” “400-foot” -600 sand ? sand -600 ? Aquaculture 0.18 0.00 0.18 “1,200-foot” “1,000-foot” -800 sand sand ? -800 “800-foot” sand “600-foot” Total 13.55 0.04 13.59 “1,500-foot” ? sand sand ? -1,000 “1,000-foot” -1,000 Evangeline equivalent aquifer system sand Jasper equivalent aquifer system “800-foot” -1,200 ? -1,200 “2,000-foot” sand “1,500-foot” sand 15 sand ? “1,200-foot” ? sand -1,400 -1,400 14 EXPLANATION “2,400-foot” “2,000-foot” Groundwater -1,600 sand “1,200-foot” -1,600 13 sand ? Surface water sand ? -1,800 “1,500-foot” -1,800 ? “1,700-foot” 12 sand sand -2,000 -2,000 11 ? “2,400-foot” “2,800-foot” ? 10 -2,200 sand ? -2,200 sand “2,000-foot” sand “1,700-foot” ? sand 9 -2,400 ? -2,400 “2,800-foot” ? sand 8 -2,600 ? -2,600 “2,000-foot” “2,400-foot” sand 7 -2,800 sand -2,800 6 -3,000 -3,000 5 -3,200 -3,200 0 5 10 MILES 4 3 0 5 10 KILOMETERS Annual withdrawal, in million gallons per day VERTICAL SCALE GREATLY EXAGGERATED 2 1 EXPLANATION 0 Freshwater in sand 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Saltwater in sand—Saltwater contains Year greater than 250 milligrams per liter chloride Clay Figure 2. Water withdrawals in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, ? Lithologic contact—Separates clay and sand layers. Dashed where 1960–2010 (Sargent, 2011). approximate. Queried where uncertain Hydrogeologic contact—Defines boundary between conjoined or merged aquifers Hydrogeologic contact—Defines boundary between aquifers or aquifer systems Groundwater Resources Fault The primary sources of fresh groundwater (water with a chloride concentration of 250 milligrams per liter [mg/L] or Figure 3. Generalized north-to-south hydrogeologic section less) in Livingston Parish are, from shallowest to deepest, the through parts of western Livingston Parish, Louisiana (modified Chicot equivalent, Evangeline equivalent, and Jasper equivalent from Griffith, 2003). Trace of section shown on figure 1. across the parish (fig. 1). There is little evidence that the Denham included about 0.49 Mgal/d for public supply, 0.09 Mgal/d for Springs-Scotlandville Fault affects groundwater hydrology in industry, 1.40 Mgal/d for rural-domestic use, 0.04 Mgal/d for the parish, but the Baton Rouge Fault generally coincides with livestock, 0.05 Mgal/d for general irrigation, and 0.10 Mgal/d an abrupt change in water quality and potential changes in water for aquaculture (B.P. Sargent, U.S. Geological Survey, written levels in aquifers underlying the parish. North of the fault, commun., 2015). freshwater is found consistently from the shallowest aquifers to the base of freshwater; south of the fault, many intermediate aquifers contain saltwater (water with a chloride concentration The Evangeline Equivalent Aquifer System greater than 250 mg/L) (Griffith, 2003). The Evangeline equivalent aquifer system in Livingston Parish comprises the “800-foot,” “1,000-foot,” “1,200-foot,” Chicot Equivalent Aquifer System “1,500-foot,” and “1,700-foot” sands of the Baton Rouge area (fig. 3). These aquifers are generally composed of fine- to The primary aquifers composing the Chicot equivalent coarse-grained sand, with the altitude of the base of the aquifer aquifer system in Livingston Parish are, from shallowest system ranging from about 1,200 ft below NGVD 29 near the to deepest, the shallow sands of the Baton Rouge area, the northern parish line to about 2,800 ft below NGVD 29 near the Gonzales-New Orleans aquifer, the Upland terrace aquifer, and southern parish line (Griffith, 2003). the “400-foot” and “600-foot” sands of the Baton Rouge area The “1,500-foot” and “1,700-foot” sands typically (Griffith, 2003). A clay layer is generally present at or near land have similar water levels, indicating that these sands are surface in Livingston Parish (Tomaszewski, 1988).