Ouachita Parish, Louisiana: drinking water report. Ouachita Parish in northeast Louisiana has about 160,000 residents, with Monroe and West Monroe as the…
Ouachita Parish in northeast Louisiana has about 160,000 residents, with Monroe and West Monroe as the main communities. Water comes from the Sparta Aquifer and the Ouachita River. The Sparta Aquifer has been declining for decades due to heavy pumping, and the parish is part of a multi-state conservation effort to slow the drawdown.
The Sparta Aquifer's decline is a long-term concern for Ouachita Parish. According to the USGS's 2024 Sparta aquifer monitoring report, water levels in the Monroe area have dropped over 100 feet since the 1920s, reducing the aquifer's natural pressure and increasing pumping costs. As water levels drop, the chemistry can change – iron and manganese concentrations have increased in some wells as they draw from different zones.
The former Selman Field military installation and the Monroe Regional Airport have documented AFFF use. LDEQ's 2024 PFAS investigation found PFOS at 12 ppt in monitoring wells near the airport. The International Paper and Georgia-Pacific facilities in the parish have also contributed industrial contamination to the Ouachita River watershed.
Ouachita Parish's aquifer decline is a slow-moving crisis that affects water availability and quality simultaneously. If your water has become harder or more mineral-heavy over the past few years, the aquifer drawdown may be the reason.
Check your water for current data. For iron, manganese, and PFAS, reverse osmosis handles the full range of concerns. Our water filter guide covers systems suited to declining-aquifer water. Pull your detailed report for trends, and visit our Louisiana page for statewide context.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Ouachita Parish, LA.
The EPA places Ouachita Parish, LA in Zone 3 - the EPA's lowest-risk category, with a predicted average indoor radon level below 2 pCi/L. Zone maps predict an area's radon potential from geology and existing indoor readings; they say nothing about a specific house. Testing is the only way to know your own level.
47% of homes in Ouachita Parish, LA were built before 1980, and 6% before 1950. Residential lead paint was banned in 1978, so housing age is the strongest available proxy for lead-paint exposure. This describes the county's housing stock, not any one home.
Modelled annual fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) in Ouachita Parish, LA averages 8.8 µg/m³, within the EPA's annual standard of 9 µg/m³. These are CDC modelled county estimates rather than readings from a specific monitor.
How radon zones work · Air quality by county · Lead exposure guide