What is in your water?

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What is nonpoint source pollution?

Nonpoint source pollution is any pollutant that runs off the land from our yards, farms, forests, streets and parking lots throughout the watershed. Nonpoint source pollution enters our bayous, rivers, and lakes when it rains and includes sediment (mud), fertilizers, pesticides, oil, metals, litter, and bacteria (from animal waste).

What is a watershed?

A watershed is an area of land that drains to a river, bayou, lake, estuary, or wetland.

Where is my watershed?

Louisiana has 12 large watersheds, called basins which are divided into 476 smaller watersheds called subsegments. LDEQ collects water quality data for each subsegment in the state. You can go to LDEQ’s website and find out what the water quality is within your watershed.

Watershed Brochures

What can I do to protect my watershed?

Get involved in your local watershed group work on a storm drain marking project , use best management practices when washing your car, disposing of your used oil, disposing of vegetable oil or crawfish water, picking up waste from your pet, or working in your yard. There are many actions that people can take to prevent nonpoint source pollution and protect our water quality.

2012 Project Review

What can I do if I live in a city?

Use no-phosphorus detergents
Do not pour or throw anything into a storm drain.
Use native plants for landscaping around your home
Limit the use of fertilizers on your yard, especially before a large rain
Pick up pet waste from your yard and while walking your dog
Build a rain garden to capture storm water runoff from your house and yard
Install a rain barrel or cistern to store rain water to water plants
Where to recycle oil
Where to recycle used motor oil, batteries, antifreeze and mercury in Calcasieu Parish
Where to recycle in East Baton Rouge Parish
Recycle New Orleans from the Green Project
Where to recycle used oil in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes
Where to recycle used oil in Rapides Parish
Lafayette Parish Recycling Guide

What can I do if I live on a farm?

Use conservation tillage practices
Use pesticide and nutrient management practices
Protect stream buffers and streamside management zone
Use a cover crop to capture residual nutrients on your fields
Become a Master Farmer
Contact your local USDA agent about Farm Bill Programs that protect water quality
Have your home sewage system inspected and maintained on a routine basis

What can I do if I am a developer?

Incorporate best management practices into your site design
Design your development to capture and retain the first one inch of rainfall on site;
Retain wetland and natural drainages as a component of your site design
Use green infrastructure, native plants, grassed swales and wetlands in your site designs
Work with the Local Planning Commission on storm water requirements and watershed protection

What can I do if I am a logger?

Use forestry best management practices in all stages of your logging operation
Become a Master Logger
Participate in your local watershed group
Follow federal guidelines when harvesting in wetlands
Leave streamside management zones to protect water quality

What can I do if I am a city planner?

Learn your watershed boundaries
Learn whether the water bodies in your watershed are not meeting their fishable and swimmable goals
Incorporate smart growth and green infrastructure into you cities planning for development, roads and storm water systems
Work with your state and federal agencies on protecting wetlands, urban forests, urban streams and wildlife habitat