Water, the cliché says, is life. I think it’s clear from this month’s story (page 10) out of Baton Rouge, La., where drillers took a clever tactic to protect that city’s freshwater supply. We need freshwater for everything from irrigation to showers, and in some areas, we need creative problem solving to get it.
East Baton Rouge didn’t have a problem getting water. But, it only takes a quick glance at a map to guess that, while there’s likely freshwater drillers can get to, saltwater isn’t far behind. That was the problem. Saltwater had crept toward a main production well sunk into the Southern Hills Aquifer over decades. The issue, first identified as a problem in the 1960s, had started to affect the area’s drinking water.