ENROLLED
2021 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 88
BY REPRESENTATIVES MARCELLE AND FREIBERG
A RESOLUTION
To urge and request the commissioner of conservation to adopt any necessary rules and
regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, by 2026, to limit
the withdrawal of groundwater by commercial or industrial facilities to five million
gallons of groundwater per day, and to monitor and enforce those rules as it relates
to the Southern Hills Aquifer.
WHEREAS, the people living in East Baton Rouge Parish are dependent on local
groundwater resources from the Southern Hills Aquifer for safe drinking water; and
WHEREAS, major industries in East Baton Rouge Parish also use these groundwater
resources for commercial purposes to secure jobs and economic growth for the region; and
WHEREAS, the main supplier of safe drinking water in East Baton Rouge Parish is
the Baton Rouge Water Company, a privately-owned utility regulated by the Louisiana
Public Service Commission; and
WHEREAS, as many as ninety thousand people in Ascension Parish also draw their
safe drinking water from groundwater in East Baton Rouge Parish through the Baton Rouge
Water Company's subsidiary, Ascension Water Company; and
WHEREAS, the United States Geological Survey (USGS), through numerous
scientific studies and models, has identified serious water-level declines and saltwater
intrusion in Baton Rouge aquifers; and
WHEREAS, the USGS has identified large groundwater withdrawals for public
supply and industrial use in East Baton Rouge Parish as the cause of water-level declines and
saltwater intrusion; and
WHEREAS, the USGS has stated that if groundwater withdrawals in Baton Rouge
continue into the future at historic rates, saltwater intrusion will continue to occur; and
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WHEREAS, the office of conservation has stated in a previous report to the
legislature that without "publicly released plans for major groundwater pumpage reductions
from the users in East Baton Rouge" groundwater use rates at the "present level or along a
slightly upward trend seems a logical assumption, with all attendant consequences"; and
WHEREAS, the commissioner of conservation has the statutory authority to prevent
or alleviate damaging saltwater movement or water-level decline and loss of sustainability
in the state's aquifers and to determine areas of groundwater concern and designate critical
areas of groundwater concern; and
WHEREAS, groundwater sustainability is defined in law as the development and use
of groundwater in a manner that can be maintained for the present and future without
causing unacceptable environmental, economic, social, or health consequences; and
WHEREAS, the office of conservation has stated in a previous report to the
legislature that such "unacceptable effects on sustainability" already exist in East Baton
Rouge Parish; and
WHEREAS, without limiting the industrial withdrawal of groundwater from the
Southern Hills Aquifer, such "unacceptable effects on sustainability" and damaging saltwater
movement and water-level decline will continue.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby urge and request the commissioner of conservation to
adopt any necessary rules and regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure
Act, by 2026, to limit the withdrawal of groundwater by any commercial or industrial facility
to five million gallons of groundwater per day, and to monitor and enforce those rules.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
commissioner of conservation.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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