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12/15/2023
WT Staff
HAPPENING NOW
Drought escalates from moderate to severe
Merryville, Belle Chasse BWAs
Up to the minute water news for Friday, December 15, 2023 - last updated 539 pm CST
Boil Water Advisories:
Merryville has issued a BWA following a system-wide disruption of service yesterday. The boil advisory applies to all customers of Merryville until further notice.
Plaquemines Parish issued a BWA after a water main break Thursday. The BWA impacts connections from Belle Chasse Middle School to the Port Sulphur Water Plant until further notice.
Point Blue Chataignier Water System BWA remains in effect for Kennedy and Eugene subdivisions following a service outage Tuesday.
Venice remains under a system-wide BWA, along with Slidell's Chamale Cove and Hermadel neighborhoods Friday.
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 escalates from moderate to severe overnight from USGS 7-day average streamflows
Area drained by the Sabine River on the Texas border went to severe drought status overnight along with the Calcasieu River drainage area and a large swath down the east side of watershed Region 5 following the Mississippi River channel, all jumping to severe drought Friday. This is an escalation from moderate drought seen earlier this week including yesterday.
Webster Parish remains the only surface area untouched by any sort of rating on the drought map Friday, the only part of Louisiana's west, watershed Regions 1-5 still escaping the drought. In the southeast, Region 7 watershed area is largely below normal with Tangipahoa Parish experiencing severe dry conditions. Parts of Washington and St Tammany Parishes are still rated normal along with watershed Regions 6 and 8.
Extreme drought remains locked on two areas Friday. Saline Bayou drainage area in Region 1 and the area from Tensas River to Mississippi River in Region 3 are rated extreme drought.
Nine streamflow monitors are recording low flow values in Louisiana Friday with two more on the Sabine River showing low in Texas. See the brown tags on the map for details.
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 image captured December 14 is mostly cloud obscured. The interpretation from the last clear image December 13 follows, though this image was taken at high wind speed 18.1 mph, therefore may be an underestimate of HAB extent. The December 13 image provides a clear view of most water bodies.
No HAB activity is evident in Lake Pontchartrain or Lake Maurepas in the December 13 capture. Given the HAB in Pontchartrain was showing in the December 12 image, taken at a slightly lower wind speed, we expect the HAB remains in the lake but may be mixed down in the water column.
Lake Verret and Lake Palourde blooms were visible Dec 11, 12 and 13 with high concentration around the 700 thousand cells per 100 ml level. Lac des Allemands and Bayou Fortier are plainly seen Dec 13 with widespread HAB on the east side of the water bodies at 600 thousand cells per 100 ml. Lake Cataouache was completely cloud obscured Dec 13. Lake Salvador HAB showed through breaks in cloud cover at concentration in the range of 600 to 700 thousand cells per 100 ml.
See the bluegreen 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
The last update from Unified Command was offered ten days ago, on December 5, 2023. As of that time, the entire length of the Main Pass Oil Gathering (MPOG) company's pipeline system has been examined and the source of the leak had not been found. Quoting from the Unified Command press statement of Dec 5, 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. See the CWA Crimebox for a historic case brief related to a spill of 500 barrels of crude oil spilled in the Gulf in 2012. More to follow.
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA role in supporting Unified Command
From the NOAA Office of Response and Restoration:
"In response to the crude oil release, known as the MPOG 11015 incident, a Unified Command was established by the USCG, the responding party MPOG, and the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office, in coordination with NOAA, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Forefront Emergency Management and other federal, state and local agencies to develop and execute a response strategy. For decades, the USCG and NOAA have played a joint role in ensuring vital operational support and response capabilities for oil and chemical spills. After the reports were received, OR&R began deploying to provide response support on-scene to the incident management team, the Federal On-scene Coordinator (U.S. Coast Guard), and Unified Command based in Belle Chasse, Louisiana.
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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