Free Louisiana water report: PFAS & lead levels for every water system, worst-affected cities, and EPA violations. Check your ZIP.
Louisiana's drinking water serves approximately 4.6 million residents through a system shaped by the Mississippi River, the Gulf Coast, and one of the most concentrated industrial corridors in the Western Hemisphere. The state's water sources divide broadly: southern Louisiana communities draw from surface water – the Mississippi, Red, Ouachita, and Calcasieu rivers – while northern parishes rely more on groundwater from the Southern Hills and Sparta aquifers. The Louisiana Department of Health oversees roughly 1,500 public water systems. New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and the communities between them sit along or near the Mississippi River, which by the time it reaches Louisiana has collected agricultural runoff and industrial discharges from 31 states and two Canadian provinces.
The stretch of river between Baton Rouge and New Orleans – roughly 85 miles – contains over 150 industrial facilities, including petrochemical plants, refineries, plastics manufacturers, and chemical storage operations. This corridor has been called "Cancer Alley" by environmental justice advocates, a name that reflects both the density of industrial emissions and the health disparities documented in predominantly Black communities along the route.
PFAS contamination in Louisiana comes from multiple vectors. The EPA's UCMR5 monitoring has detected PFAS compounds in several Louisiana water systems, with particular concern around military installations and industrial facilities.
Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City is the state's most prominent military PFAS site. Decades of AFFF use in firefighting training have contaminated groundwater around the base, with PFOA and PFOS detected in monitoring wells at levels exceeding federal health advisories. The Department of Defense is conducting ongoing investigation and remediation.
The petrochemical corridor adds industrial PFAS pathways. Several facilities along the Mississippi use or produce fluorinated compounds, and their wastewater discharges – even when treated – can contain measurable PFAS levels. The Mississippi River itself carries PFAS from upstream sources, which means every community drawing river water is exposed to a baseline level of contamination before any local industrial contributions.
Louisiana has not established state-specific PFAS MCLs. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) monitors for PFAS but regulatory action has been limited relative to states with more aggressive enforcement postures.
Among Gulf Coast states, Louisiana has the most concentrated industrial contamination corridor. Texas has more military PFAS sites but a less dense industrial riverfront. Mississippi and Alabama have fewer industrial sources but also less monitoring infrastructure.
The Cancer Alley corridor has drawn national and international attention. A 2022 report from the UN Human Rights Council highlighted environmental justice concerns in the region, citing disproportionate pollution exposure in communities with high poverty rates and predominantly Black populations. While the report focused on air emissions and cancer rates, water quality is part of the same industrial landscape.
Louisiana's groundwater resources in the north are generally cleaner than surface water in the south, but they face their own pressures. The Sparta Aquifer, which serves communities across north-central Louisiana, has been declining due to over-pumping, and the USGS has documented water level drops of more than 100 feet in some areas since monitoring began.
Your water quality exposure in Louisiana depends heavily on your source: Mississippi River surface water carries different risks than northern Louisiana groundwater.
1. Check your ZIP code at the homepage. We show available monitoring data including PFAS detections, disinfection byproducts, and industrial contaminants. 2. River corridor residents between Baton Rouge and New Orleans should pay particular attention to industrial contaminant data. Point-of-use reverse osmosis is the most effective household defense against the mix of compounds present in treated Mississippi River water. 3. Barksdale area residents in Bossier City and Bossier Parish should check whether their water source has been tested as part of the DoD investigation. Private well owners near the base should contact the Bossier Parish health unit for testing information. 4. Review our water filter guide for systems that match your specific contaminant profile. Our detailed water report provides multi-year trend data.
Louisiana's water quality history is inseparable from the Mississippi River and the petrochemical industry that lines its banks. The river has been a source of drinking water for Louisiana communities since the colonial era, and it has simultaneously been a receiving body for waste from the entire interior of the continent.
The petrochemical boom along the lower Mississippi began in the 1940s and accelerated through the postwar decades. Cheap natural gas feedstock, deep-water port access, and favorable regulatory conditions attracted hundreds of chemical facilities. By the 1980s, the corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans had become one of the most industrialized stretches of river anywhere in the world.
Environmental justice activism in the region dates to the 1980s and 1990s, when communities like Convent, Norco, and Mossville organized against proposed expansions and documented health disparities. The term "Cancer Alley" entered the national vocabulary during this period. More recent organizing – including opposition to a proposed Formosa Plastics facility in St. James Parish – has kept the corridor in the national spotlight.
Barksdale AFB, established in 1933 and home to the 2nd Bomb Wing and Air Force Global Strike Command, has been a major military installation for nearly a century. Its firefighting training areas used AFFF extensively, and the resulting PFAS contamination was first publicly documented in the late 2010s. Remediation timelines remain uncertain.
Hurricane events have repeatedly disrupted Louisiana's water infrastructure. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 caused catastrophic failures across the New Orleans water system. Hurricane Ida in 2021 knocked out power to water treatment plants across southeast Louisiana, leaving hundreds of thousands without safe drinking water for days. Climate projections suggest increasing hurricane intensity, which means these disruptions are likely to recur.
Saltwater intrusion is an emerging threat in the southern part of the state. As sea levels rise and river flows change, saltwater from the Gulf can push upstream into freshwater intakes. In late 2023, low Mississippi River flows allowed a saltwater wedge to advance toward New Orleans's water intake, prompting the Army Corps of Engineers to construct an emergency underwater sill to block the intrusion – a temporary fix to a problem that will worsen over time.
Check your address to see available data for your location. In a state where industrial, military, and environmental forces all converge on the water supply, knowing your local conditions is not optional.