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.