This composite benchmark measures how well
Louisiana’s surface water bodies (lakes,
reservoirs, streams and estuaries) meet
their designated use categories (primary
and secondary contact recreation, fish/wildlife
propagation, drinking water supply, oyster
propagation, agriculture and outstanding
natural resource) as determined by the Department
of Environmental Quality. Possible causes
of non-support are many, and therefore,
so are the strategies to improve deficiencies.
Non-point source surface runoff is the major
problem contributing to poor surface water
quality.
The value shown is substantially lower
than the baseline number shown in Vision
2020. The lower value reflects changes in
assessment procedures which now report values
only if complete monitoring data are available
on a water body subsegment; otherwise, the
subsegments are reported as "insufficient
data." Prior to this procedural change,
a large number of streams that were only
partially surveyed and had incomplete data
were included, thus inflating the percentage
value.
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