Water withdrawals in Louisiana, 2020

Information concerning the availability, use, and quality of water in the 64 parishes of Louisiana is critical for water-supply management. In cooperation with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Lower Mississippi-Gulf (LMG) Water Science Center (WSC) has been collecting, compiling, and publishing water-withdrawal and water-use information on a 5-year basis since 1960. The 5-year reports are available online on the Louisiana Water Use project page.

This data release contains water withdrawn in 2020 tabulated by parish, industrial group, water-use category, source type, and designated source name. In 2020, approximately 8,700 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) of water was withdrawn from groundwater and surface-water sources in Louisiana. Total groundwater withdrawals were about 1,900 Mgal/d and total surface-water withdrawals were about 6,800 Mgal/d. Total water withdrawals, in Mgal/d, in 2020 for the various categories of use were as follows: public supply — 720, industry — 2,100, power generation — 4,100, rural domestic — 39, livestock — 7.0, rice irrigation — 930, general irrigation — 250, and aquaculture — 590. About 51 percent (approximately 960 Mgal/d) of all groundwater withdrawn was from the Chicot aquifer system and 24 percent (approximately 450 Mgal/d) was withdrawn from the Mississippi River alluvial aquifer. About 72 percent (4,900 Mgal/d) of all surface water withdrawn was from the Mississippi River mainstem. The methodology followed previous 5-year reports, such as those described in Collier and Sargent, 2018.

References:

Collier, A.L., and Sargent, B.P., 2018, Water use in Louisiana, 2015: Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Water Resources Special Report no. 18, 138 p. [Also available at https://wise.er.usgs.gov/dp/pdfs/WaterUseinLouisiana_2015.pdf.]