Written by Ken Hulsey
This week, I listened to a podcast that featured an NPR report on Louisiana's dwindling groundwater supplies. The issue is strikingly similar to the water crisis my family just experienced in drought-stricken California, where overuse by farmers has nearly depleted the state's aquifers.
Surprisingly, Louisiana - a state with abundant lakes, rivers, and rainfall - also faces grave groundwater depletion. While farmers bear much of the blame, the oil and gas industry has also been draining the state's water table. This water scarcity seems unfathomable given Louisiana's water-rich environment.
Drawing on my own experience working in the state's environmental sector, the wastewater infrastructure is in dire shape. Regularly, I would receive test results showing local treatment plants were pumping contaminated water into rivers and lakes - the very waters where people swim and fish. When confronted, plant operators would admit they lacked the funds to properly treat the wastewater, opting instead to simply pay state fines. One mayor expressed grave concerns about discharging into a popular swimming lake. This should alarm all Louisianans.
The NPR report underscores a water crisis quietly unfolding in a state known for its abundant water resources. Urgent action is needed to address groundwater depletion and the failing wastewater systems polluting the state's waterways.
The drinking water infrastructure in Louisiana is in dire condition. I was tasked with regularly notifying the state whenever a city or town needed to issue a Boil Advisory. A Boil Advisory is issued when the local drinking water system fails, requiring residents to boil their water to kill bacteria before using it for consumption or food preparation. Local drinking water plants are in similarly poor shape as the wastewater facilities. The difference is that since these plants supply drinking water, the local authorities have no choice but to quickly address the issue and lift the Boil Advisory, even if it takes weeks to test and certify the water as safe. Regrettably, the water infrastructure across Louisiana is failing at an alarmingly high rate. In short, the overall water system is in very bad shape.
Louisiana is known for its losing battle against rising seas and increasingly frequent floods. It can sometimes seem like the state has too much water. But the aquifers deep beneath its swampy landscape face a critical shortage.
Groundwater levels in and around Louisiana are falling faster than almost anywhere else in the country, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. An analysis by the Investigative Reporting Workshop and WWNO/WRKF traced the problem to decades of overuse, unregulated pumping by industries and agriculture, and scant oversight or action from legislative committees rife with conflicts of interest.
Experts warn that all of these factors threaten the groundwater that nearly two-thirds of Louisianans rely on for drinking and bathing. Combined with the expected effects of climate-fueled heat and drought, it puts Louisiana on the brink of a groundwater crisis more common in Western states.
"Will restaurants no longer be able to put a giant glass of water on your table when you go in to have your seafood platter?" asks Craig Colten, a Louisiana State University professor who has studied water issues for years. "Will there be limits on how frequently you can wash your car in your driveway or water your lawn?"
Agriculture consumes more than 61% of Louisiana's groundwater. In part, that's because a centuries-old law gives landowners "ultimate dominion" over the groundwater beneath their property.
When it comes time to flood his rice fields in southwestern Louisiana, sixth-generation farmer Christian Richard just flips a switch. Within seconds, crystal clear water gurgles up a 120-foot well and shoots out a short spout, right into the field.
It's simple, easy and free.
"I think that ultimately, rice will be grown in the areas where the water is the cheapest and the most readily available," Richard says.
But the Chicot Aquifer he draws from is losing water faster than it can be replenished. It's being overdrawn by about 350 million gallons a day. And that's creating another threat: saltwater intrusion.
Overpumping reduces the downward pressure exerted by the aquifer's fresh water, giving seawater from the Gulf of Mexico room to move in and fill the void. Aquifers in other parts of the state are also dealing with saltwater intrusion, but the Chicot's proximity to the coast exacerbates the problem here, says Christine Kirchhoff, a national water resources management and policy researcher at the University of Connecticut.
"You might have a well that is functioning just fine now," Kirchhoff says, "but once salt contaminates fresh water, it's done. That's it. You no longer have that well."
Louisiana's oil and gas refineries, paper mills and other industries are other major groundwater users. Our investigation finds they draw more of it than industries in any other state except California.
Industry also has an outsized influence when it comes to regulating Louisiana's water.
Check out these alarming images!
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