Hearing delayed on salt water
The state Office of Conservation plans to wait until at least late this year to decide on a request from the Baton Rouge Metro Council for a hearing to address saltwater intrusion into an important city drinking water aquifer.
In a Feb. 10 letter to the Metro Council, Office of Conservation Commissioner James Welsh said the Capital Area Ground Water Conservation Commission expects a study from the U.S. Geological Survey on the saltwater intrusion issue to be completed in October.
Until all parties have a chance to review that report, holding an “area of ground water concern public hearing” is premature, Welsh wrote.
In the meantime, the Baton Rouge Water Co. has decided to take action and try to prevent saltwater intrusion into wells that provide a significant part of the city’s water supply.
“This is not a new story,” said Eugene Owen, executive chairman of the Baton Rouge Water Co.
Concerns about saltwater intrusion date back to at least the 1960s when news reports cited geologists from the U.S. Geological Survey, saying “gradual contamination of the fresh groundwater supply of the Baton Rouge area may result from saltwater moving toward pumping centers unless preventative measures are taken.”
The Capital Area Ground Water Conservation Commission, which was created by the Legislature, started meeting in 1975 primarily to address the saltwater intrusion concern, said Anthony Duplechin, director of the commission.
In a recent letter to Welsh, the commission outlined actions the group has taken, including a conservation policy for the 2,000-foot sand and a connector well constructed in 1999 to address the problem. The 2,000-foot sand refers to one of two layers of sand below the industrial area of the city that contains fresh water. (The other is the 1,500 foot sand.) They are known by the depths at which the sand levels are found.
Much of the rest of the action listed in the letter involves gathering information and studying issues related to saltwater intrusion.
“I’m not going to say it’s been all talk and no action, but it’s been mostly talk and no action,” Owen said. “We’re just out of talking time.”
Sometime this year, the water company will start work on installing a “scavenger well,” which essentially draws off salt water before it gets to the drinking water wells. With two scavenger well systems, he said, it’s projected that the 1,500 foot sand aquifer’s life can be extended another 25 to maybe 50 years.
“This is one of those situations that everyone talks about, but no one does anything,” Owen said. “We decided to do something.”
Although the water company takes drinking water from 10 different layers of sand, it’s the 1,500 foot sand that provides the largest percentage of that water and the one that is of most concern in respect to saltwater intrusion. Industry is most concerned about the 2,000 foot sand, although the Baton Rouge Water Co. does have some wells in the layer too, Owen said.
In October, the Metro Council sent the request to the Office of Conservation asking for a public hearing as the first step to getting the area classified as an “area of ground water concern.”
It’s an issue Baton Rouge resident Hays Town brought to the council’s attention because of issues he discovered during research for a graduate paper.
A retired contractor and engineer, Town, 77, decided to go back to school for meteorology, and in one of his classes he started looking at the saltwater intrusion into groundwater issue.
“We’re pumping way too much water, which is accelerating the intrusion of saltwater,” Town said. “If we want it there for our grandchildren, then we need to quit.”
Town, who has formed a group called Baton Rouge Citizens to Save Our Water Inc., said his goal is to get industry to take water from the Mississippi River instead of drawing it from the aquifer under Baton Rouge. Some industries have made moves to do that, but there is still a large amount of water being drawn from the ground.
“That’s the only way to get sustainability,” Town said.
The Baton Rouge Water Co. has already purchased property along the Mississippi River in case saltwater intrusion gets so bad that it has to take and treat water from the river, he said.
“They’ve been knowing about this for years and years and years, and no one’s done anything,” Town said.
Metro Councilman Mike Walker said the facts are clear that there is a saltwater intrusion problem that needs to be addressed. Although it’s been a concern for years, it wasn’t a well-known concern to the public or some council members, so the presentation Town gave was a surprise to many, Walker said.
“We’ve just not been able to get a hearing yet,” he said. The important thing moving forward will be to make a public push so more people know about the problem and will get involved, he said.
After receiving the Metro Council’s request, the Office of Conservation requested information from the Capital Area Ground Water Conservation Commission and met with the director in January.
In addition to responding to Welsh, the commission also agreed to send a letter to the U.S. Geological Survey asking for a schedule and scope of costs for future studies and maintenance of existing models. The commission asked that the information be available for presentation at the March commission meeting.
However, Town and Owen said there are already enough studies of the problem to start making decisions.
“Someone’s got to step up and say, ‘Folks, we’re out of time, we’ve got to do something,’ ” Owen said.
On the internet:
Baton Rouge Citizens to Save Our Water Inc.:
http://www.saveBRwater.com