LAWSC Projects

Current and Ongoing Projects

• Water quality monitoring in the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Lake Borgne, and adjacent waterways in southeastern Louisiana, 2009 to 2013

• In early 2009, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) constructed a rock barrier across the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO), a navigation channel between the Port of New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. In August 2008, prior to construction of the rock barrier, the LaWSC, in cooperation with the USACE, began monitoring specific conductance, dissolved oxygen, and discharge in the MRGO to assess potential effects of the barrier. In late 2009, the USACE constructed a hardened barrier across another section of the MRGO and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and is planning to build up the adjacent marsh with sediments dredged from nearby Lake Borgne. In 2010, the LaWSC began additional monitoring in the MRGO, GIWW, the Inner Harbor Navigation Channel (IHNC), Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne, and other adjacent waterways.

  Principal investigator - Christopher M. Swarzenski

• Assessment of water quality and soil conditions at the Bayou aux Carpes 404(C) property wetlands

• Wetlands in the Bayou aux Carpes area, south of New Orleans, La., currently are isolated from direct inflow of storm water runoff by levees and spoil banks. The USACE is considering removal of a spoil bank that would allow storm-water runoff to flow through and across the wetlands. . The wetlands consist of floating marshes, with a predominately organic substrate, and forested wetlands, some of which occur within the floating marshes. The USGS is documenting existing conditions in the marshes, including documentation of porewater quality, primarily nutrients, and soil quality (degree of decomposition). Water in the main canal is being sampled for a suite of herbicides and water level gradients across the area. The period of the study is one year.

  Principal investigator - Christopher M. Swarzenski

• Structure maps of the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer in northwestern Louisiana

• Groundwater resources in northwestern Louisiana may be needed for development of natural gas production from the Haynesville Shale. Use of groundwater for hydro-fracturing of the shale may lower water levels and alter groundwater flow directions in the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer and other local aquifers. Regional maps of aquifers in northwestern Louisiana are unavailable. The LaWSC, in cooperation with the Louisiana Dept. of Ttransportation and Development, is creating structure maps and hydrogeologic cross-sections to describe the fresh groundwater resources throughout the area. The period of the study is two years.

  Principal investigator – Robert B. Fendick

• Physical soil properties of wetlands, and the hydrology of tidal swamp, tidal creeks, adjacent rivers, and adjacent marshes along the coastal gradient of palustrine, oligohaline, and mesohaline sites in relation to drought, storm, and tidal events

• The LaWSC, in collaboration with researchers from the National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC), the NRP program, Auburn University, and Clemson University, is documenting conditions in tidal swamps in Louisiana, Georgia, and South Carolina as a baseline with which to compare future data to assess the impacts of climate change in such areas. Tidal swamps in these states offer an array of freshwater inflows, tidal ranges, and base wetland elevations relative to mean sea level, which creates unique conditions that shape soil physical properties at each locality. The study will document physical soil properties and hydrologic conditions in several study areas in the 3 states. The 5-year study is funded through the USGS Global Climate Change initiative and includes researchers from Clemson and Auburn Universities.

  Principal investigator - Christopher M. Swarzenski

• Assessing the Influence of the Davis Pond Freshwater Diversion on Water-Quality in Waterways and Marshes of Barataria Preserve

• In 2002, the Davis Pond Freshwater Diversion began diverting up to 10,000 cfs of Mississippi River water into the waters surrounding the Barataria Preserve of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. Previously, precipitation, local surface-water runoff, and occasional marine intrusion largely determined quality of surface and marsh porewaters at the Preserve. The new influx of river water will change the quality of the Preserve waterways and marsh porewaters in as yet undetermined ways. The floating marshes of the Preserve may be particularly sensitive to water-quality shifts because of their highly organic substrate, derived almost exclusively from root production. Porewater constituents, including nutrients and salinity, directly affect the health and vigor of the plant community, and the ability of the plant community to build a healthy, fibric substrate. The proposed project will sample porewater and surface waters to determine where river water has infiltrated the Preserve, and whether constituents, sampled 10 years earlier, are changing from the pre-diversion baseline. Porewaters of the six distinct marsh communities at the Preserve will be sampled for the parameters that are most likely to be affected by the influx of river water and that also could affect plant production. The marsh peat substrate for each community will be analyzed for decomposition. Water in the canals and bayous within the Preserve also will be sampled. This study is funded through the USGS-National Park Service Partnership Program. The work is cooperatively funded by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and the U.S. Geological Survey.

  Principal investigator - Christopher M. Swarzenski

• Water Use in Louisiana

• The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD), has collected and published information on water withdrawals and use on a 5-year basis since 1960. The reports present information on withdrawals from ground- and surface-water sources for use in water supply, industry, power generation, rural domestic, livestock, irrigation, and aquaculture for each parish and hydrologic unit in Louisiana. Withdrawals from major aquifers and aquifer systems also are included. The reports also present trends for total ground- and surface-water withdrawals for each parish and the State. In addition, monthly water-use data are collected on a quarterly basis from several public supply, industrial, and power-generation facilities. Each of these facilities, considered major users, withdraw over 1 million gallons per day (Mgal/d), on average, from a surface or ground source and account for about 80 percent of all withdrawals for public supply, industrial, and power-generation uses in Louisiana. The USGS currently is compiling data to estimates water withdrawals in Louisiana during 2010. The work is cooperatively funded by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and the U.S. Geological Survey.

  Principal Investigator – B. Pierre Sargent

• Water Resources of Louisiana’s Parishes

• The USGS is summarizing basic information on water resources for each parish in Louisiana and presenting the information in fact-sheet format. Information presented includes groundwater and surface-water availability, quality, development, use, and trends. These brief summaries of water resources will provide parish officials, local officials and concerned citizens with information needed to make decisions about current and future development in their parish. The work is cooperatively funded by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and the U.S. Geological Survey.

  Currently Available Reports:

  • Water Resources of Ascension Parish - Report Number 2009-3063
  • Water Resources of Ouachita Parish - Report Number 2009-3086
  • Water Resources of Rapides Parish - Report Number 2009-3056
  • Water Resources of St. Tammany Parish - Report Number 2009-3064

  Principal Investigator – Lawrence B. Prakken

• Simulation of Groundwater Flow in the "1,500-Foot" and "2,000-Foot" Sands and Movement of Saltwater in the “2000-Foot” Sand of the Baton Rouge Area, Louisiana

• Saltwater encroachment has been detected in six aquifers, including the "1,500-foot" and "2,000-foot" sands, north of the Baton Rouge fault in East Baton Rouge Parish. The encroachment is in response to ground-water withdrawals, primarily for public supply and industrial uses, in Baton Rouge. Additional information is needed for water planners and managers in the Baton Rouge area to make decisions on future management of ground-water resources in the area. The impact of the pumping wells on ground-water flow and the northward encroachment of saltwater is not well known. The time and route for saltwater to travel from the fault to pumping centers is not known. Water managers and planners need this information to help them determine possible locations for additional water-supply wells, saltwater scavenger wells, injection wells, or observation wells. A computer model is being created to simulate past, current, and a variety of possible future conditions in the "1,500-foot" and "2,000-foot" sands. The completed model will provide a tool to help water planners and managers evaluate possible management alternatives, and increase the understanding of saltwater movement in aquifers in similar hydrogeologic settings. The work is being conducted with funding from the Capital Area Ground Water Conservation Commission, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

  Principal Investigators - Charles E. Heywood (USGS-WRD, Richmond, VA) and Jason M. Griffith (USGS-WRD, Baton Rouge, LA)