• A Journal Staff Report

Development of surface water resources in Louisiana is the best way to conserve depleting groundwater aquifers, and provide other economic and environmental benefits. This is one conclusion of a presentation by Dr. Bill Branch, LSU professor of water resources, at the First Annual Northwest Louisiana Water Summit held on the Northwestern Louisiana University campus in Natchitoches on August 17.

The meeting was coordinated by LSU Ag Center Area Agent Mimi Stoker of Natchitoches,watershed educator for the Red Riber and Sabine watersheds. The conference brought together a panel of nine presenters and over 75 participants, who have been in the forefront of the water preservation, water purification and water impoundment efforts initiated by the Clean Water Act of 1972.

In his presentation Dr. Branch listed five benefits arising from development of more surface water resources: To improve water quality, to conserve ground water, to reduce flooding, to enhance economic development, and to reduce coastal land loss.

Dr. Branch said, "Even though 84% of Louisiana's water use comes from surface water sources such as rivers, bayous, and lakes, three major aquifers are declining. Further development of surface water resources will provide many benefits."

In the North Louisiana area, surface water impoundments and streams include Lake D'Arbonne, Lake Claiborne, Caney Creek Reservoir, Saline Lake, Black Lake, Lake Bisteneau, Caddo Lake, Poverty Point, and Toledo Bend Reservoir, plus several smaller bodies. The Red and Ouachita rivers, and numerous tributary streams feed into the Mississippi-Atchafalaya river watershed.

Other impoundments are in various stages of planning, including the Port de Luce in Winn, and Castor Creek in Caldwell parishes.

Meanwhile, a group in Claiborne parish is also proposing a series of smaller impoundments as an offset to the declining Sparta aquifer used for municipal and industrial water throughout North Louisiana, south Arkansas, and western Tennessee.

Dr. Branch said, "Increased use of surface water will decrease our dependence on ground water. More lakes and reservoirs will increase aquifer recharge rates."

By management of surface water flow, "We can increase stream flow during the summer, and improve fish and wildlife habitat," the LSU professor said. "We can increase dissolved oxygen levels to provide more capacity for meeting intended uses. And, if we increase use of treated waste water effluent for irrigation we can reduce the discharge of pollutants into our surface waters."

By increasing reservoir storage capacity within watersheds, storm water will be held back, slow river stage increases, and reduce downstream flooding, Dr. Branch said. He cited the examples of the Old River Control Structure and Morganza Floodway on the Atachafalaya River, and the Bonnet Carré Spillway on the lower river, which divert flood waters into the Pontchartrain Lake.

Additional surface water is an enhancement for economic development, since it costs less to pump, Dr. Branch said. Increased surface water supplies can be made available for expansion of public water supply, business and industrial use, power generators, agriculture and recreational uses.

As a health benefit, Dr. Branch said, surface water usually contains less salt, sodium, iron, and manganese than present groundwater supplies, requiring less treatment for many applications.

"Persons with tendency for high blood pressure should check the sodium content of their municipal water supply from underground aquifers," Dr. Branch said.

Finally, increased stream flows into coastal marshes will supply sediment and nutrients to marsh vegetation and reduce the rate of coastal land loss, and increased freshwater supply during dry season will reduce vegetative loss caused by encroaching salinity.

State Rep. Taylor Townsend of Natchitoches in opening remarks said navigation on the Red River through Northwest Louisiana holds many economic benefits for the area.

As an outdoorsman, he emphasized the need for landowners to consider enrolling marginal farm lands in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's environmental programs.

Buck Vandersteen, executive director of the Louisiana Forestry Association, said more than 90 percent of loggers and landowners uses the Best Management Practices adopted by the industry and approved by state and federal agencies. These practices help landowners manage their forest lands in an environmentally friendly way and improve water quality.

Vandersteen said government leaders, industry representatives, universities and private landowners cooperated to develop the first Master Logger program, which teaches forest professionals how to maximize both environmental conservation and profitability. Today there are 1,200 master loggers in Louisiana.

Tin Wier, director of environmental engineering at Pilgrim's Pride poultry processors, said the company used about 2.5 million gallons of water per day to operate the facilities. The company has reduced the amount of water required to process a bird from 9 gallons to 4 gallons in the past 15 years, and continues to work on further reductions.

Dr. Fred Sanders, LSU AgCenter water quality specialist, discussed the LSU Master Farmer Program, which follows a similar model to the Master Logger program, designed to teach producers of other commodities how to operate in the most environmentally friendly way.

Registration at the conference was in the NSU Student Union building followed by welcoming remarks being given by Chairperson Stoker, Dr. Randy Webb, President of NSU and Natchitoches Mayor Wayne McCullen. Remarks by State Representative Taylor Townsend followed at which time he lauded the efforts of Red River Waterways Commission and touted the potential for business and industrial expansion due to the locks and dams installations on the J. Bennett Johnston Waterway.

The nine-member panel then began a series of Power Point presentations that addressed various topics ranging from establishing TMDLs (Total Maximum Daily Loads) which are a method of monitoring potential pollution sites; the reduction of hypoxia in the Red River Basin, to monitoring water quality in the 1400-mile long Red River watershed, to the proper recycling of waste water from poultry processing plants.

In over 32 years the state has established monitoring points-of-reference defined as Point Sources at which potential pollutants originate from a stationary location or fixed facility, where discharge is directly into a water body, with some examples being wastewater effluent from municipal or industrial facilities, runoff from animal feedlot operations, or discharge from active mining or oilfield operations.

Pollution sources, which have no single output and enter water bodies from a wide range of origins are known as Non Point Sources, which can be defined as runoff from row-crop agriculture; pastures and cattle ranges; forested areas; roads, highways and parking lots and constructions sites where dirt work is involved.

Panel personalities included Jan Boydstun from the Baton Rouge Office of Department of Environmental Quality, the State Non Point Program Coordinator; Dr. Gary Hanson, head of the Red River Research Station at Bossier City, LA; Buck Vandersteen, Executive Director of the Louisiana Forestry Association; Dr. Branch; Dr. Eddie Milhollon, Red River Research Station, Bossier City; Brad Spicer, Assistant Secretary, Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry; and Dr. Sanders.

The group adopted a proposal to hold the Second Annual Northwest Louisiana Water Summit on the LSU-Shreveport campus near Shreveport, LA next year.

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