|
12/21/2023
WT Staff
HAPPENING NOW
Extreme drought in Morehouse Parish
Elton High under BWA
Up to the minute water news for Thursday, December 21, 2023 - last updated 639 pm CST
Boil Water Advisories:
Elton has issued a BWA following the discovery of a leaking water line Tuesday. The advisory applies to customers on First Street, Second Street, Mayor Marcantel Street and Main Street, including Elton High School, until further notice.
Leesville has a BWA for customers connecting on LA-171 South from Walgreens to the end of the city limits, and Boone Street to McRae Road. The advisory was issued Tuesday and applies until further notice.
Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Waterworks District 1 issued a BWA Tuesday for all customers past 667 Four Point Road following repairs. The advisory applies until potable water test is returned to confirm the system clear of contaminants.
Washington BWA remains in effect for all customers until further notice.
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 Map from USGS 7-day average streamflows compared to historic averages
Extreme drought has overtaken central Morehouse Parish Thursday, spreading south from Arkansas, from Bonita to Beekman. This is the second area to dive into the extreme drought depth this month. The area from Tensas River to the east state line Mississippi River has been at the extreme hydrologic drought level for some time, gripping East Carroll, Madison and Tensas Parishes.
A glance at the drought map is shocking, the area rated extreme is spreading bright red, with the remainaing territory of Louisiana colored in roughly equal parts with the red brown of severe drought or the mustard yellow tone indicating below normal average flow. A smaller area is colored with orange indicating moderate drought, with the most uncommon feature of this map being a blank white space. Only the west side of Bossier indicates no drought or normal streamflow in the entire west state. The area south of Lake Pontchartrain, watershed Regions 6 and 8 are still a blank space on the drought map. See the black button to the right of the map for details.
Ten streamflow monitors are recording low flow by the evening update Thursday, adding Little River at Rochelle in Region 2 and Tangipahoa River at Robert in Region 7. Eight low flows noted in an earlier update today are still low, including Bayou Pierre in Region 1, Chemin-au-haut Bayou, Bayou Bartholomew and Tensas River in Region 3, two monitors on the Sabine River, Bayou Toro and Bayou Anococo in Region 4. See 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
The latest clear image for interpretation on the HAB concentration scale comes from December 19, taken at high wind speed, 16.4 mph. An image from December 20 is completely cloud obscured, offering no insight into the HABs at all. We refer here to the Dec 19 picture, which showed Lake Pontchartain with a widespread HAB taking residence in the east half of the water body at a concentration matching 100 thousand cells per 100 ml.
Lake Maurepas has been consistently HAB free for weeks at high and low wind speed. Lac des Allemands and Bayou Fortier are sharing a widespread HAB appearing 400 thousand cells per 100 ml in the east half of Bayou Fortier dropping down into the center of Lac des Allemands. Lake Verret and Lake Palourde each have a large localized HAB appearing 500 to 600 thousand cells per 100 ml concentration. Lake Cataoache small dispersed HAB in the south end appear 400 to 500 thousand cells per 100 ml. Lake Salvador has cloud cover partially obscuring what appears to be a widespread HAB in the northeast become a dispersed area of open water HABs concentration 300 thousand cells per 100 ml.
Lake Lery and Black Bay HABs appear to have settled down slightly, still considered high concentration at 600 thousand cells per 100 ml.
See the bluegreen tags on our map for more information.
Hazardous Spills emergency and non-emergency incidents reported to Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
In watershed Region 7 Baton Rouge, a sewage spill has been reported impacting soil. The incident occurred following a power outage during a heavy rain event. Region 5, a sewage spill has been reported impacting soil from a wastewater facility on Deerfield Loop in Duson, Lafayette Parish. The incident report indicates a leaking clarifier as the cause of the spill.
Crude oil spill in the Gulf
An emailed statement from US Coast Guard Wed Dec 20, "There are no updates for the source of the November 16 spill, and the cause and source are still under investigation. The main pipeline and several surrounding lines remain shut in and have not been put back into service."
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.
|
|
|
All rights reserved 2022 - WTLA - This material may not be reproduced in whole or in part and may not be distributed,
publicly performed, proxy cached or otherwise used, except with express permission.
|
| 
| ABOUT 
