HLS 16RS-2753 ENGROSSED
2016 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 115
BY REPRESENTATIVE ROBBY CARTER
WATER/RESOURCES: Urges and requests the office of conservation to study the effects
of ground water withdrawals from the Southern Hills Aquifer System
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To urge and request the commissioner of conservation to study the effects of ground water
3 withdrawals on the sustainability of the Southern Hills Aquifer System and on the
4 water supplies of parishes currently relying on that ground water and to report those
5 findings to the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment and the
6 Senate Committee on Environmental Quality.
7 WHEREAS, the Southern Hills Aquifer System is a system of several aquifers
8underlying the parishes of East and West Baton Rouge, Pointe Coupee, East and West
9Feliciana, and St. Helena with ten of those north of a fault line that bisects East Baton Rouge
10Parish; and
11 WHEREAS, the Southern Hills Aquifer System is the major source of drinking water
12for ten parishes in and surrounding the Capital Area Region and there are numerous
13industrial facilities that withdraw potable water from the aquifer system for their industrial
14processes; and
15 WHEREAS, there has long been concern about the viability, sustainability, and
16health of the Southern Hills Aquifer System; even as long ago as the early 1960s, there were
17concerns about saltwater being drawn from the southern portions of the system below the
18fault line into the freshwater portions of the aquifer north of the fault line; and
19 WHEREAS, the concern about the sustainability of the aquifer system has been
20growing and has resulted in many activities, discussions, studies, and public hearings
21culminating in the July 2013 release by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) of their
Page 1 of 2 HLS 16RS-2753 ENGROSSED
HCR NO. 115
1"Simulation of Groundwater Flow in the '1,500-foot' Sand and the '2,000-foot' Sand and
2Movement of Saltwater in the '2,000-foot' Sand of the Baton Rouge Area, Louisiana" report;
3and
4 WHEREAS, according to the abstract of that report, "Groundwater withdrawals have
5caused saltwater to encroach into freshwater-bearing aquifers beneath Baton Rouge,
6Louisiana. Groundwater investigations in the 1960s identified a freshwater-saltwater
7interface located at the Baton Rouge Fault, across which abrupt changes in water levels
8occur."
9 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
10urge and request the commissioner of conservation to study the effects of the ground water
11withdrawals on the sustainability of the Southern Hills Aquifer System and on the water
12supplies and water levels, including the lowering of the water table, of parishes currently
13relying on that ground water and to report those findings to the House Committee on Natural
14Resources and Environment and the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality on or
15before March 1, 2017.
16 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this Resolution be transmitted
17to the commissioner of conservation.
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)]
HCR 115 Engrossed 2016 Regular Session Robby Carter
Urges and requests the commissioner of conservation to study the effects of the ground water
withdrawals on the sustainability of the Southern Hills Aquifer System and on the water
supplies and levels of parishes currently relying on that ground water and to report those
findings to the oversight committees on or before March 1, 2017.
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