Knowing how much water Livingston Parish, Louisiana, has, uses and how good it is matters for managing it. This USGS summary draws on published reports and the National Water Information System.
Livingston Parish: aquifer extents, the Denham Springs–Scotlandville and Baton Rouge faults, wells and stream gages. USGS.
Water use
In 2010 the parish withdrew about 13.6 million gallons a day (Mgal/d), almost all groundwater.
| Source | Mgal/d |
|---|---|
| Chicot equivalent aquifer system | 2.17 |
| Evangeline equivalent aquifer system | 4.92 |
| Jasper equivalent aquifer system | 6.46 |
| Streams (surface water) | 0.04 |
| Use | Mgal/d |
|---|---|
| Public supply | 11.76 — nearly 87 percent |
| Rural domestic | 1.40 |
| Aquaculture | 0.18 |
| Industrial | 0.10 |
| Livestock | 0.09 |
| General irrigation | 0.06 |
Use, measured every 5 years since 1960, peaked in 2005 at about 13.9 Mgal/d. The rise since 1975 came mainly from public supply, up from 0.82 Mgal/d in 1960 to 11.76 in 2010.
Water withdrawals, 1960–2010. USGS.
Groundwater
Fresh groundwater (chloride 250 mg/L or less) comes from three stacked systems — the Chicot, Evangeline and Jasper equivalents — of south-dipping, thickening silt, sand and gravel separated by patchy clay. They are recharged mainly by rain soaking in across a belt reaching about 100 miles north into Mississippi.
Two east–west growth faults cross the parish. The Denham Springs–Scotlandville Fault seems to matter little, but the Baton Rouge Fault roughly marks an abrupt change: north of it, freshwater runs from the shallowest aquifers to the base of freshwater; south of it, many intermediate aquifers hold saltwater.
Hydrogeologic section through western Livingston Parish. Modified from Griffith (2003). USGS.
| Chicot equivalent | Evangeline equivalent | Jasper equivalent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aquifers | shallow Baton Rouge sands, Gonzales–New Orleans, Upland terrace, "400-foot" and "600-foot" sands | "800-," "1,000-," "1,200-," "1,500-" and "1,700-foot" sands | "2,000-," "2,400-" and "2,800-foot" sands |
| Base | to about 1,200 ft below NGVD 29 in the south | about 1,200 to 2,800 ft below NGVD 29, north to south | about 2,000 to over 3,400 ft below NGVD 29; saltwater in lower sands in the south |
| Flow | south | southwest | west, toward pumping at Baton Rouge |
| Water-level trend, 1990–2015 | −8 ft (well Li-122, "400-foot" sand) | −14 ft (well Li-52, "1,700-foot" sand) | −20 ft (well Li-185, "2,400-foot" sand) |
| Active wells, 2015 | 2,638 (2,410 domestic, 115 public supply, 98 irrigation, 15 industrial) | 74 (39 domestic, 28 public supply, 5 irrigation, 2 industrial) | 49 (33 public supply, 10 domestic, 4 irrigation, 2 industrial) |
| Well depths | 11–928 ft | 315–2,300 ft | 1,540–3,081 ft |
| Yields | 2–500 gal/min | about 10–1,900 gal/min | about 10–1,934 gal/min |
| Withdrawals, 2010 | 2.17 Mgal/d, mostly rural domestic (1.40) | 4.92 Mgal/d, almost all public supply (4.89) | 6.46 Mgal/d, almost all public supply (6.39) |
- Chicot: a clay layer usually lies at or near the surface. In 2014–15, water levels ran from about 75 ft above NGVD 29 at the north line to near sea level south of the Baton Rouge Fault.
- Evangeline: the "1,500-" and "1,700-foot" sands behave as one. In 2003, their levels north of the fault ran from about 115 ft above NGVD 29 in the northeast to 45 ft below in the west.
- Jasper: in 2006, "2,800-foot" sand levels north of the fault ran from about 60 ft above NGVD 29 in the northeast to less than 10 ft below near Denham Springs.
Water levels in wells Li-122 (Chicot), Li-52 (Evangeline) and Li-185 (Jasper). USGS.
Quality: freshwater from all three systems is generally soft, with median color, pH, chloride and dissolved solids within the EPA's secondary standards. Median temperature rises with depth. Iron and manganese can locally far exceed the standards.
Selected water-quality characteristics of freshwater in the Chicot, Evangeline and Jasper equivalent aquifer systems. USGS.
Surface water
The parish lies in the Lake Maurepas Basin, whose streams flow south or east to Lake Maurepas. In 2010 about 0.04 Mgal/d was drawn from streams, for livestock.
| Subbasin | Drains | Main streams | Average flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amite | much of the west; extends about 30 mi into Mississippi | Amite River; Grays Creek, Colyell Bay | Amite near Denham Springs: 2,069 ft³/s (1913–2013), from 1,280 mi² |
| Tickfaw | much of the east; about 11 mi into Mississippi | Tickfaw River; Hog Branch, Blood River, Natalbany River | Tickfaw at Holden: 373 ft³/s (1941–2014), from about 247 mi²; Natalbany at Baptist: 116 ft³/s (1943–2014), from about 80 mi² |
| Lake Maurepas | the southern tip, mostly wetlands | Blind River, fed by the Amite River Diversion Canal | Lake Maurepas: 91 mi², average depth about 7 ft, mildly tidal |
Quality: the Amite (at Port Vincent) and Tickfaw (at Holden) are generally soft, with median chloride, sulfate and iron within secondary standards and dissolved oxygen generally above 5 mg/L — the minimum for diverse warm-water life, including sport fish. Samples from mid-Lake Maurepas in 1975–81 were generally within standards too, though chloride peaked at 1,200 mg/L: brackish water enters at the east end while fresh water flows in from the west and north.
Selected water-quality characteristics of the Amite and Tickfaw rivers and Lake Maurepas. USGS.
Sources
Based on Water Resources of Livingston Parish, Louisiana, by Vincent E. White and Lawrence B. Prakken, U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2016–3048 (DOI; publication page), prepared with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, citing Sargent (2011), Griffith (2003), Prakken (2004), Fendick (2007), Shampine (1971) and Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (2015). Map, graphs, section and water-quality tables are restored from the fact sheet's PDF. A work of the United States government in the public domain.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from pubs.usgs.gov
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