HLS 15RS-4211 ORIGINAL
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE STUDY REQUEST NO. 5
BY REPRESENTATIVE BARROW
WATER/RESOURCES: Requests the House Committee on Natural Resources and
Environment to study the sustainability of the aquifers supplying drinking water to
the Capitol Area Region
1 A STUDY REQUEST
2To the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment to study the sustainability
3 of the Southern Hills Aquifer System supplying water to the Capital Area Region,
4 and to report its findings to the House of Representatives prior to the convening of
5 the 2016 Regular Session.
6 WHEREAS, Article IX Section 1 of the Constitution of Louisiana declares that the
7"natural resources of the state, including … water … shall be protected, conserved, and
8replenished insofar as possible and consistent with the health, safety, and welfare of the
9people. The legislature shall enact laws to implement this policy"; and
10 WHEREAS, the Southern Hills Aquifer System underlies the parishes of East and
11West Baton Rouge, East and West Feliciana, and Livingston and is the major source of
12drinking water for the Capital Area Region; and
13 WHEREAS, not only does the Southern Hills Aquifer System provide drinking water
14for the Capital Area Region, there are numerous industrial facilities that withdraw potable
15water from the aquifer system for their industrial processes; and
16 WHEREAS, the concern about the sustainability of the aquifer system has been
17growing recently and has resulted in many activities, discussions, studies, and public
18hearings; and
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HSR NO. 5
1 WHEREAS, a freshwater-saltwater interface is located at the Baton Rouge Fault,
2across which abrupt changes in water levels occur, where aquifers south of the fault
3generally contain saltwater and aquifers north of the fault contain freshwater; and
4 WHEREAS, the office of conservation and the Capital Area Groundwater
5Conservation Commission, using the United States Geological Survey Water Resources
6research and data, have worked together to study the Southern Hills Aquifer System and to
7develop management regimes and policies that are conducive to the sustainability of the
8aquifer system and to minimize the effects of saltwater intrusion into the system; and
9 WHEREAS, in the spring of 2012, the office of conservation, at the request of the
10Capital Area Groundwater Conservation Commission and the Baton Rouge area legislative
11delegation, held public hearings on the issue of saltwater encroachment in the fifteen
12hundred foot sands and two thousand foot sands of the Southern Hills Aquifer System, where
13information was provided that supported the fears that the aquifer system is not sustainable
14due to the saltwater encroachment which resulted in the commissioner of conservation taking
15action to have certain groundwater well owners provide information as to their current and
16projected withdrawal volume; and
17 WHEREAS, even with all the focus and increased activity towards protection and
18conservation of the Southern Hills Aquifer System, particularly as a drinking water source,
19there remains concern about the sustainability of the aquifer system and a desire to see
20further action in order to preserve the necessary drinking water for the population of the
21Capital Area Region.
22 THEREFORE, the House of Representatives of the Legislature of Louisiana requests
23the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment to study the sustainability of
24the Southern Hills Aquifer System supplying water to the Capital Area Region, and to report
25its findings to the House of Representatives prior to the convening of the 2016 Regular
26Session.
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HSR NO. 5
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HSR 5 Original 2015 Regular Session Barrow
Requests the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment to study the
sustainability of the Southern Hills Aquifer System supplying water to the Capital Area
Region, and to report its findings to the House of Representatives prior to the convening of
the 2016 Regular Session.
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