Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve
Hydrogeology
It is impossible to look in any direction in the Barataria Preserve and not see either water or a landscape directly resulting from the actions of water. A collection of man-made canals connect from the edge of hardwood wetlands, across large expanses of flotan marsh, to vast fresh water lakes, which are in turn joined to the Gulf of Mexico by remnants of natural channels and maintained canals.
Water in the Barataria Preserve originates from four sources; rainfall, pumped stormwater from the adjacent communities, saline storm surges from the Gulf, and inflow from the Davis Pond Diversion. The later taps into the West Bank of the Mississippi River and diverts a portion of the rivers flow through portions of the Preserve, thus the Preserve has the largest watershed of any National Park Service unit – the Mississippi River watershed. As the adjacent towns of Westwego and Estelle lie at just above sea level, massive pumping stations are required to prevent flooding. The Preserve is the receiver for seven pump stations. Tropical storms bring surges of saline water from the Gulf of Mexico some 60 km to the south. The 2008 hurricanes Ike and Gustav, making landfall 450 and 75 km to the west pushed saline waters deep into the Preserve.
A long-term water quality monitoring program has been designed to detect change – primarily influenced by these main three sources – with consideration of extant and recent monitoring efforts. Three Coastal Reference Monitoring Stations were established in 2007 within the Preserve continuously monitoring stage, salinity and temperature. Beginning in 2000 the State of Louisiana's Ambient Water Quality Program occupies six stations every month on a four year rotation at major canals adjacent to the Preserve. Since 1994 Jefferson Parish has performed quarterly monitoring on the outflow of 12 pumping stations discharging into the Barataria. The US Army Corps of Engineers established monthly sampling at seven sites adjacent to the Barataria associated with the Davis Pond Diversion in 1997. While the later effort was discontinued in 2009, the GULN program sampled in temporal and parametric concert for 14 months to correlate findings at five sites within the Preserve.
In July 2008 the GULN established five permanent water quality stations in the Barataria Preserve – positioned to detect the influence of gulf waters, fresh water diversions and pumped waters. Sampling recurs on a monthly interval. These sites range from deep within the canal network, to the flotan-lake margin, and down-canal from major pump stations. Parameters include the required field measures of temperature, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen and pH. Turbidity is also determined in the field. Grab samples are also collected for laboratory analysis for E. coli , nitrate, nitrite and phosphorous.
Sample Site Locations
Wiskey Canal (29 0 52' 5.84” 90 0 12' 12.72”) This site is located at the intersection of the Waggaman Canal and a canal that leads to Lake Cataouatche . It is a few hundred meters east of Cataouatche Pumping Station.
Bayou Bardeaux (29 0 52' 5.85” 90 0 9' 36.00”)Just south of numerous fishing camps, this site is located where Bayou Segnette leads to open waters of Lakes Cataouatche and Salvador .
Lower Tarpaper (29 0 45' 37.84” 90 0 8' 43.75”) This site is located where the Pipeline Canal intersects Bayou Bardeaux.
Upper Tarpaper (29 0 48' 47.86” 90 0 7' 39.15”) This site is located deep within the Preserve at the northern end of Tarpaper Canal .
Millaudon Canal (29 0 51' 15.92” 90 0 7' 21.28”) Located on the Millaudon Canal , this site is downstream from the New Ames Pumping Station.
Parameters Collected
Field Data
Site ID code
Sample Collection Date
Sample Collection Time
Days since last significant rainfall
Air Temperature (C)
Specific Conductance (µS)
Dissolved Oxygen (mg/l)
Dissolved Oxygen (% saturation)
pH (SU)
Water Temperature (C)
Laboratory Data
Ammonia-N (mg/l)
Chloride (mg/l)
Fecal coliform (colinies/100ml)
Hardness, total (mg/l)
Nitrate/Nitrite – N (mg/l)
Total Metals: As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni, Se, Zn
Sulfate (mg/l)
Total Phosphorous
Total Mercury
USGS Real Time Online Data Links
- USGS 073802375 Lake Salvador near Lafitte, LA
- USGS 2951190901217 L. Cataouatche at Whiskey Canal S of Waggaman, LA
- USGS 295501090190400 Davis Pond Freshwater Diversion near Boutte, LA
Extant Water Quality Monitoring Adjacent to Park
Data Folder Tree
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