LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY | Secretary Aurelia S. Giacometto
A DEPARTMENT OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
2012-2013 Update: With an established framework for understanding and applying human dimension issues to watershed management in place, the “Social Indicators” initiative advances to the next level of organizing, coordinating and delivering trainings to water resource, conservation and extension professionals. Initiative leaders from University of Wisconsin, Ohio State University and Purdue University, with the support of the Great Lakes Regional Water Program, have already created a Social Indicators for Planning and Evaluation System (SIPES) along with the Social Indicators Data Management and Analysis (SIDMA) tool focused on polluted runoff. Anticipated outcomes of this year’s funded initiative include an increased awareness of SIPES/SIDMA, increased knowledge of social indicators for watershed management by conservation professionals, increased use of SIPES/SIDMA for planning and evaluation of watershed management and the increased use of social data in watershed management efforts.
The objective of the SWAT Model is to predict the effect of management decisions on water, sediment, nutrient and pesticide yields with reasonable accuracy on large, ungaged river basins. Available for download on web.
The Office of Soil & Water Conservation provides financial assistance, administrative support, centralized direction and coordination to Louisiana’s 44 Soil & Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) which provide conservation planning services to landowners within their individual districts. SWCDs are local units of state government with capabilities very unique to any other form of state or local government, due mainly to their capability of entering private property at the request of landowners to plan and/or construct various conservation systems. SWCDs are established at the request of resident landowners from within the proposed SWCD. Each SWCD is governed by board of 5 supervisors, 3 locally elected and 2 appointed by the SWCC. These supervisors are landowners or farm operators from within the SWCD and represent local conservation needs and concerns. Each SWCD typically hires 2 or more employees to assist in carrying out conservation planning, office administration, conservation program administration, conservation education, and similar duties. SWCDs are funded by the State Legislature and through self generated income. Each of Louisiana’s 44 SWCDs are assisted by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
SoilWeb: An Online Soil Survey Browser online soil survey can be used to access USDA-NCSS detailed soil survey data (SSURGO) for most of the United States. SoilWeb allows to explore mapped soil survey areas using an interactive Google map and view detailed information about map units and their components. This app runs in your web browser and is compatible with desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones.
A web-based geographic data viewer showing master plan boundary, Coastal Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) stations and data, sand source projects, and coastal management permits and consistency information. LDNR also represented by this tool.
The toolkit offers effective steps that source water protection professionals working at the state level can take to build partnerships with USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to get more agricultural conservation practices on the ground to protect sources of drinking water. Developed by the Source Water Collaborative, a group composed of 23 organizations working together to protect sources of drinking water, with support from EPA and in consultation with NRCS, the toolkit includes insightful tips and highlights specific opportunities states can take advantage of immediately. In addition, the Source Water Collaborative is working with the National Association of Conservation Districts to develop a locally-focused supplement to the toolkit to provide a step-by-step process for collaborating with conservation districts.
Spreadsheet used to provide gross estimates of sediment and nutrient load reductions from the implementation Best Management Practices for various land uses.
The 1978 Louisiana State and Local Coastal Resources Management Act, La. RS. 49:214.21 et seq, authorized the LDNR's Coastal Management program and the development, at the parish level, of local coastal management programs (LCPs). The Louisiana Coastal Resources Program (LCRP) is responsible for conservation, protection, management, and enhancement or restoration of Louisiana’s coastal resources. After receiving federal and state approval, Parish level local coastal management programs become the permitting authority for coastal uses of local concern defined as "those uses which directly and significantly affect coastal waters and are in need of coastal management but are not uses of state concern and which should be regulated primarily at the local level if the local government has an approved program" (RS. 49:214.25.A.2).
The Louisiana State Soil and Water Conservation Commission (SWCC) was created by the State Legislature in 1938 under Act 370 to develop the LA conservation district program and to establish operational policy, and provide general regulatory oversight of the conservation district program. Although the legislature made significant changes to the make-up of the State Commission in 1956 and in 1985, its functions and relationship with the conservation districts has remained the same since the enactment of Act No. 370 of 1938. The State Commission consists of eight members. The Chancellor of the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, the Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry and the President of the Louisiana Association of Conservation Districts are members of the commission by virtue of their offices. The other five members are SWCD supervisors elected by fellow supervisors, one from each of the five State Commission Areas established by the legislature. The make up of the five State Commission Areas is listed in the Louisiana Revised Statutes, Title 3, Section 1204.
Reduction of nutrient impairments to our nation’s waters is a top priority for states and interstates. As discussed in detail in the Executive Summary & Overview below, ACWA has a long history of working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) on strategies to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus loadings to waterbodies. EPA has continued to emphasize the importance of state adoption of numeric nutrient criteria (“NNC”) as the most effective mechanism for ensuring accountable and verifiable reductions. However, states have long advanced that reductions also are being achieved via a rich mosaic of approaches that vary by state, pollutant of concern, sources, and collaborators. This report provides a high level summary of each state’s current approach to nutrient reduction. This report’s methodology, which was conducted in phases of survey, narrative drafting, and state review, is described below. We are pleased that this report consists of responses from every state and the District of Columbia [hereinafter “state(s)”].