Water resources of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana

Abstract

Information concerning the availability, use, and quality of water in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, is critical for proper water-supply management. The purpose of this fact sheet is to present information that can be used by water managers, parish residents, and others for stewardship of this vital resource. In 2014, about 116.75 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) of water were withdrawn in St. Landry Parish: about 98.13 Mgal/d from groundwater sources and 18.62 Mgal/d from surface-water sources. Withdrawals for agricultural use, composed of general irrigation, rice irrigation, aquaculture, and livestock uses, accounted for about 90 percent (105.31 Mgal/d) of the total water withdrawn. Other categories of use included public supply, which accounted for about 8 percent of the total water withdrawn (9.77 Mgal/d), industry which accounted for about 1 percent (1.03 Mgal/d), and rural domestic which accounted for about 1 percent (0.65 Mgal/d). Water-use data collected at 5-year intervals from 1960 to 2010 and again in 2014 indicated that water withdrawals peaked in 1965 at 194.57 Mgal/d due to a large reported surface-water withdrawal of 144.00 Mgal/d for power generation that was not reported for other years.