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12/11/2023
WT Staff
HAPPENING NOW
Drought deepens over the weekend
Jones McGinty BWA
Up to the minute water news for Monday, December 11, 2023 - last updated 439 pm CST
Boil Water Advisories:
The Jones McGinty Water System issued a boil advisory Friday for customers connecting on Old Bonita Road.
Refer to yellow tags on the map for more BWAs in effect in the state of Louisiana. Also see the latest EPA Safe Drinking Water Act list of Serious Violators under the SDWA button to the right of the map.
Drought Situation from USGS 7-day average streamflows
Region 3 Tensas River channel east to the Mississippi River retains an extreme drought rating Monday, joined by Region 1's Saline Bayou Channel, which has jumped up to extreme drought status over the weekend. The drought rating for the Tangipahoa River channel in Region 7 has also escalated over the weekend, heading up to severe from the below normal standing held all of last week. Regions 4 and 5 have crept back into moderate drought, continuing to spare Evangeline and Acadia Parishes. These two have not appeared on the drought map, which could be due to lack of monitoring stations to provide a drought rating.
Region 1 is showing up on the drought map rated below normal including Caddo, DeSoto, Sabine and Natchitoches Parishes. Region 3 Claiborne, Union, Ouachita and a narroww strip through the center of Caldwell Parishes are below normal. Central Morehouse Parish has gone from moderate drought to severe drought overnight.
Note WaterToday reports day-to-day changes recorded by USGS streamflow monitors on rivers and tributaries located in Louisiana, along with monitors upstream in the Mississippi River basin: Ohio, Georgia and southwest New York state. USGS creates a drought map from 7-day average streamflow readings, by comparing the average with the historic weekly normal flow value for each location. The drought ratings are below normal, moderate hydrologic drought, severe drought and extreme drought.
HABs Report from National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) satellite monitoring program
NCCOS has supplied an image taken December 10 at a high wind speed 15.4 mph for our interpretation of HABs today. This latest image is mostly cloud obscured and taken at a high wind speed. The clouds cover all but the west shore of Lake Pontchartrain and south cover Lake Cataouache. The area we can see clearly may not be a reliable indicator of the full area of HAB due to the high wind potentially submerging HABs down into the water column. The following interpretation of HAB extent and concentration can be taken with these limitations in mind.
The clear image taken at low wind December 7 revealed a massive lakewide expansion of a HAB spotted in Lake Pontchartrain a day earlier. The concentration of the expanded bloom ranged from 100 thousand cells per 100 ml in the west to 200 thousand cells per 100 ml in the center of the lake, which became cloud obscured toward the east. The December 6 picture showed the east half of the water body with HABs extending past Irish Bayou into the Rigolets and Lake Catherine. As of December 10, though we cannot visualize most of Pontchartrain due to cloud cover, it is safe to assume the HAB may still be present based on our view of other bodies of water with HAB activity today.
Lac des Allemands is partly visible in the Dec 10 image, showing widespread HAB of moderate concentration 100 thousand in the west bay. From a previous image last week, there was lakewide HAB visible at the high concentration of 800 to 900 thousand cells per 100 ml with widespread HAB all the way down Baie Des Deux Chenes and Bayou des Allemands into Lake Salvador matching the color scale for a high concentration, 600 to 700 thousand cells per 100 ml.
In the December 10 picture we can see Lake Verret and Lake Palourde. The HABs in these two lakes show up as large localized rather than lakewide, at concentration of 800 thousand cells per 100 ml. Important to note that the high wind speed could be submerging these blooms and causing us to underestimate the area.
Lake Salvador HAB is visible through breaks in cloud cover, with HAB appearing lakewide at 400 thousand cells per 100 ml. Bluegreen location tags on our map give the interpretation of the last clear image available for each water body.
Hazardous Spills emergency and non-emergency incidents reported to Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
Crude oil spill in the Gulf
Unified Command has released an update on the 1.1 million gallons of crude oil discharged into the Gulf of Mexico on or around November 17. The source of the leak has not yet been located, the pipeline remains shut down.
In the latest press briefing from Unified Command, December 5, 2023 the Coast Guard continues to monitor and respond to an oil discharge near the Main Pass Oil Gathering (MPOG) company's pipeline system, known as the MPOG 11015 incident, near Plaquemines Parish, southeast of New Orleans. The cause and source of the incident remain under investigation. The entire length of the main pipeline has been assessed to date, along with 22.16 miles of surrounding pipelines with no damage or indications of a leak identified. Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and divers continue to reassess the main pipeline and surrounding pipelines as a sustained effort to locate the source of the suspected release.
Dial 228-273-2400 for claims associated with this incident. To report oiled wildlife in the area, call the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries at 337-735-8677.
Note about hazardous spill incident reporting, from LDEQ: Information contained in the Field Interview form is the preliminary observation of the inspector. This should not be construed as a final determination of LDEQ, its officers or personnel as to any matter, including compliance or non-compliance with statutes, regulations and permits.
Each day of non-compliance is considered a separate violation of the Louisiana Environmental Quality Act.
See the pink tags on the map with the watershed layer turned on, showing the potential impact zone of hazardous spills in the environment. Refer to the Spills button on the right of the map for more incident reports filed this year.
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