Protecting Louisiana’s Groundwater and Aquifers 

Many of Louisiana's natural resources are threatened, including the state’s major aquifers that store groundwater. Unlike Western states where surface and groundwater scarcity has been a traditional problem, Louisiana has abundant waterways and deltas, with occasional flooding having been the primary water-related concern. A series of investigative reports in 2021, though, detailed how groundwater in and around Louisiana is depleting faster than in most parts of the USA.  

Investigative journalists Austin Ramsey and Tegan Wendland who are affiliated with the Investigative Reporting Workshop and stations WWNO/WRKF described a different water crisis in Louisiana. They reported that unregulated pumping by industries and agriculture, coupled with limited oversight and conflicts of interest within legislative committees, are depleting the state's aquifers. 

Groundwater is vital for our drinking water and for agriculture and industry. Although surface water is accessible for certain water needs, it often comes with higher risks and/or treatment costs to remove contaminants. Over-pumping the Sparta Aquifer in northern Louisiana has led to groundwater level declines and long-term sustainability concerns. 

Groundwater depletion has far-reaching consequences, such as declining surface waters, loss of habitats and biodiversity, and land subsidence. It also impacts agricultural productivity, raises water extraction costs, and poses public health risks due to increased contaminant concentrations. Yet gathering comprehensive data on groundwater levels and quality is difficult due to the vast size of aquifers, their complex geology, and these monitoring costs. 

Louisiana's regulatory framework for groundwater usage has been described as relatively weak, with few controls to prevent excess or wasteful pumping. In 2021, state lawmakers passed only a non-binding resolution urging the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources to limit an industrial or commercial facility’s groundwater extraction by the year 2026 to five million gallons per day. The state also has had just two regional oversight agencies that help safeguard two of our major aquifers, the Southern Hills Aquifer System near Baton Rouge and the Sparta Aquifer in northern Louisiana. 

Scientists and consultants tell us that effective groundwater management requires better monitoring, more efficient water usage technologies, more public education, improved stakeholder dialogues, increased coordination of water resources policies, and potential incentives and restrictions related to certain pumping activities. 

Public education and broader stakeholder participation are particularly crucial for water conservation and sustainability. Directly and seriously impacted stakeholders, such as companies with large economic interests and those parties personally disadvantaged by existing or proposed practices, have every reason to organize and push for their goals. Others who can seem less directly affected or are less knowledgeable about groundwater and aquifer challenges often have little voice in the policy making process. Lindsey Gouedy from Ruston, who serves as Education Coordinator for the Sparta Groundwater Conservation Commission, conducts many presentations for area students and adults on aquifer-related issues. 

To replenish aquifers, alternative water sources for non-potable water needs must be found and used. A few states, like California, have a history of residential water recycling. By 2000, as many as two million Californians were reportedly using then-illegal gray water recycling approaches. The state’s plumbing code was revised in 2009 to allow homeowners to install “laundry-to-landscape” gray water systems without a special permit. Installing plumbing systems that diverted laundry machine water for outdoor irrigation and flushing toilets increased after the state’s plumbing code was revised. Costs and other concerns associated with gray water recycling systems, though, have seriously limited their residential application elsewhere in the USA. 

According to 2023 reporting by Cristina LaRue of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the Arkansas Natural Resources Division of Agriculture claims that the state is withdrawing groundwater from the Sparta Aquifer at a rate far above that which is estimated to be sustainable. Certain locations, however, such as Union County that borders Louisiana, have displayed much more optimistic monitoring results. These positive outcomes have been traced largely to the impact of large chemical and refining plants in or near El Dorado that have been switched from groundwater reliance to increased surface water usage.    

The West Monroe Sparta Reuse Facility has been another well-regarded development. This reuse facility uses naturally occurring green algae to help clean the city's wastewater, and it has supplied millions of gallons of recycled water daily to the major water user, Graphic Packaging International, to significantly reduce the company's previously heavy groundwater draw.  

The sustainability of groundwater from aquifers is a regional, national, and global challenge. UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, states that half of the global population by 2030 is expected to be living in water-stressed conditions that are estimated to cause the displacement of 700 million people. This will mean more forced population migration soon, as well as more public health emergencies and political conflicts in coping with these migrants. Louisiana and surrounding states need to protect their essential water resources.