U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2013–3029

June 2013

Prepared in cooperation with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development 

Water Resources of Claiborne Parish, Louisiana

Cl–149

07364840

A A'

Haynesville

Homer

Athens

Lisbon

Junction City

Aycock 9

9

2

534

161

146 518

.79

.79

2

2

ALT

520

Middle Fork Bayou D’Arbonne

Corney 

Lake

Lake

Claiborne

Flat Lick Bayou

Black Bayou

Bear Creek

Corney Bayou

Bayou D’Arbonne

Black Lake Bayou

Leatherman

Creek

Sugar Creek

Approximate altitude of base of

 fresh groundwater, in feet below

 National Geodetic Vertical Datum

 of 1929 (NGVD 29) (Smoot, 1988)—

 Deepest freshwater contained within

 Sparta aquifer, except where noted

 Above NGVD 29

 0 to 199

 200 to 299

 300 to 399

 400 to 499

 500 to 599

 600 to 699

 700 and deeper

Boundary of area showing deepest

 freshwater contained within underlying

 Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer

Trace of hydrogeologic

 section (see fig. 3)

Well for which hydrograph is

 shown and identifier (see fig. 4)

Lake Claiborne water-quality site

 and station number (see table 4)

EXPLANATION

A A'

Cl–149

07364840

33°00'

32°50'

32°40'

93°10' 93°00' 92°50'

Base modified from U.S Geological Survey digital data

Universal Transverse Mercator, zone 15

North American Datum of 1983

UNION PARISH

CLAIBORNE PARISH

BIENVILLE PARISH

WEBSTER PARISH

LINCOLN

PARISH

ARKANSAS

LOUISIANA

0 10 MILES

0 10 KILOMETERS

Boundary between the Red River drainage

 basin to the west, and the Ouachita River

 drainage basin to the east

TEXAS

ARKANSAS MISSISSIPPI

LOUISIANA

CLAIBORNE

PARISH

Introduction 

This fact sheet presents a brief overview of groundwater 

and surface-water resources in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana 

(fig. 1 ). Information on the availability, use, and quality 

of water from groundwater and surface-water sources 

in the parish are discussed. Previously published reports 

and data stored in the U.S. Geological Survey’s National 

Water Information System are the primary sources of 

this information. 

In 2010, about 2.60 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) 

of water were withdrawn in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, 

including about 2.42 Mgal/d from groundwater sources and 

0.18 Mgal/d from surface-water sources1 (table 1). Publicsupply use accounted for about 84 percent of the total water 

withdrawn. Other categories of use included industrial, rural 

domestic, livestock, and general irrigation (table 2). Water-use 

data collected at 5-year intervals from 1960 to 2010 indicated 

that total water withdrawals in the parish have ranged from 

about 2.6 to 3.9 Mgal/d (fig. 2). 

1

Tabulation of numbers in text and tables may result in different totals 

because of rounding; nonrounded numbers are used for calculation of totals. 

Figure 1. Location of study area, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana.
Groundwater Resources 

The primary fresh (water with a chloride concentration 

of 250 milligrams per liter [mg/L] or less) groundwater 

sources in Claiborne Parish, from near surface to deepest, 

are the Cockfield aquifer, Cook Mountain aquifer, and Sparta 

aquifer (fig. 3). The underlying Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer 

contains saltwater throughout Claiborne Parish except for 

an irregular area extending from north of Athens, southward 

to the Claiborne-Bienville Parish line (fig. 1) (Ryals, 1984). 

According to State well-registration records, there were no 

active water-supply wells screened in the freshwater area of 

the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer in Claiborne Parish in 2009 and 

there were no reported withdrawals from the aquifer in that 

area for 2010. 

Fresh groundwater is generally available throughout 

the parish. The base of fresh groundwater within Claiborne 

Parish is located at depths generally ranging from 0 feet (ft) 

to 700 ft below the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 

(NGVD 29) (fig. 1) (Smoot, 1988). Recharge to aquifers in 

Claiborne Parish is from precipitation, leakage from adjacent 

aquifers and confining units, and seasonal input from streams. 

Discharge from the aquifers is by natural flow into streams, 

leakage into adjacent aquifers and confining units, and 

withdrawals from wells. 

Midway confining unit

Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer

Cane River confining unit

Sparta aquifer

Cook Mountain Formation

1

Cockfield

aquifer

0

0

10 20 Miles

20 Kilometers

Freshwater in sand

Saltwater in sand

Mostly clay

EXPLANATION

Vertical datun is National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29)

VERTICAL SCALE IS GREATLY EXAGGERATED

1

Contains local sands of the Cook Mountain aquifer

+500

-500

-1,000

-1,500

NGVD 29

FEET FEET

A A'

WEST EAST

Groundwater

Surface water

EXPLANATION

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

Year

4

3

2

1

0

Annual withdrawal, in million gallons per day

Figure 2. Water withdrawals in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, 

1960-2010.

Figure 3. Generalized west-to-east hydrogeologic section 

showing aquifer and confining-unit intervals through Claiborne 

Parish, Louisiana (modified from Ryals, 1984). Individual sand and 

clay layers not shown. Trace of section shown on figure 1.

Table 1. Water withdrawals, in million gallons per day, by source 

in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, 2010 (modified from Sargent, 2011)

Aquifer, confining unit,

or surface-water body Groundwater Surface water

Cockfield aquifer 0.01

Cook Mountain aquifer 0.04

Sparta aquifer 2.38

Miscellaneous streams 0.18

Total 2.42 0.18

Table 2. Water withdrawals, in million gallons per day, by 

category in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, 2010 (modified from 

Sargent, 2011)

Category Groundwater Surface water Total

Public supply 2.19 0.00 2.19

Industrial 0.00 0.15 0.15

Rural domestic 0.17 0.00 0.17

Livestock 0.03 0.03 0.06

General irrigation 0.04 0.00 0.04

Total 2.42 0.18 2.60
260

265

270

275

280

285

290

295

300

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Water level, in feet below land surface

Year

Well: Cl-149

Altitude of land surface: 230 ft above NGVD 29

Well depth: 736 ft below land surface

Figure 4. Water levels in well Cl-149, screened in the Sparta 

aquifer and located near Junction City, Louisiana (see fig. 1 for 

well location; U.S. Geological Survey, 2012a). Land surface is 

measured in feet (ft) above the National Geodetic Vertical Datum 

of 1929.

State well-registration records listed 255 active water 

wells (public supply, industrial, domestic, irrigation, or 

power generation) in Claiborne Parish in 2009, including 

99 domestic, 62 public supply, 47 industrial, and 47 irrigation 

wells. In 2010, groundwater withdrawals for various uses 

included public supply, rural domestic, livestock, and general 

irrigation (table 2). 

Cockfield Aquifer 

In Claiborne Parish, the Cockfield aquifer is composed of 

very fine to fine sands (Stuart and others, 1994). The aquifer 

is present and outcrops at land surface in much of the northern 

half of the parish but is absent in stream valleys. The aquifer is 

also present in small, scattered areas in south-central Claiborne 

Parish (Snead and McCulloh, 1984). The thickness of the 

Cockfield aquifer in Claiborne Parish generally ranges from 

0 to 200 ft, and the base of the aquifer generally is greater than 

100 ft above NGVD 29 (Ryals, 1984). The principal source of 

recharge to the Cockfield aquifer is precipitation. 

State well-registration records listed 13 active wells 

screened in the Cockfield aquifer in Claiborne Parish in 

2009, including 11 domestic and 2 irrigation wells. Depths of 

these wells ranged from 16 to 81 ft below land surface, with 

a median depth of 45 ft. State well-registration records for 

Claiborne Parish indicated that yields from wells screened in 

the Cockfield aquifer range from 3 to 50 gallons per minute 

(gal/min). In 2010, withdrawals from the aquifer in Claiborne 

Parish were about 0.01 Mgal/d (table 1). 

Cook Mountain Aquifer

The Cook Mountain aquifer is present as local sands within 

the Cook Mountain Formation, which underlies the Cockfield 

aquifer in northern Claiborne Parish, but outcrops or subcrops in 

stream valleys in the northern half of the parish and throughout 

most of the southern half of the parish where the Cockfield 

aquifer is absent (fig. 3). The formation is generally composed 

of clay but locally contains sands, which form the aquifer and 

are sources of freshwater for wells (Hosman, 1978). The full 

thickness of the formation ranges from 0 to 200 ft in Claiborne 

Parish (Ryals, 1984). 

State well-registration records listed 24 active water wells 

screened in the Cook Mountain aquifer in Claiborne Parish 

in 2009, including 11 domestic, 7 irrigation, 3 public-supply, 

and 3 livestock wells. Depths of these wells ranged from 15 to 

248 ft below land surface, with a median depth of 140 ft. State 

well-registration records for Claiborne Parish indicated that 

yields from wells screened in the unit range from 3 to 40 gal/

min. In 2010, withdrawals from the Cook Mountain aquifer in 

Claiborne Parish were about 0.04 Mgal/d (table 1). 

Sparta Aquifer 

The largest source of fresh groundwater in Claiborne 

Parish is the Sparta aquifer, which underlies the Cook Mountain 

Formation. The Sparta aquifer is present throughout Claiborne 

Parish and consists of 200 to 800 ft (Ryals, 1984) of sand, 

silty sand, and silty shale with occasional lignites and lignitic 

shales (Martin and others, 1954). Sand composes about 30 to 

70 percent of the total thickness of the Sparta aquifer (Hosman, 

1978), and the total sand thickness of the aquifer ranges from 

about 400 to 600 ft in Claiborne Parish (Ryals, 1984). The 

Sparta aquifer dips gently to the east and northeast in Claiborne 

Parish (Brantly and others, 2002). The base of the aquifer is 

generally about 300 ft below NGVD 29 along the western 

parish line and deepens to the east and northeast to depths of 

450 to 600 ft below NGVD 29 along the eastern parish line 

(fig. 3). The base of the aquifer is shallowest, about 100 ft above 

NGVD 29, a few miles west of the town of Homer (Brantly 

and others, 2002). The aquifer is recharged by precipitation, 

and groundwater flow in Claiborne Parish is generally to the 

northeast (Brantly and others, 2002). 

In 2007, water levels in the Sparta aquifer in Claiborne 

Parish ranged from about 160 ft above NGVD 29 in the 

southwest corner of the parish to nearly 60 ft below NGVD 

29 in the northeast corner of the parish (Schrader, 2008). 

Regionally, water levels throughout much of the aquifer have 

declined steadily since the early 1920s when water withdrawals 

for industrial purposes began (Brantly and others, 2002). In 

2004, withdrawals from the Sparta aquifer in Arkansas, north 

of Claiborne Parish, were reduced sharply through conservation 

efforts and the use of surface water (Freiwald and Johnson, 

2008). This reduction in withdrawals has affected water levels 

in the Sparta aquifer in northern Claiborne Parish; water 

levels in well Cl-149, located near Junction City, have risen 

about 25 ft from 2000 to 2010 (fig. 4). For the 10-year period 

1990–99, water levels in well Cl-149 had declined at a rate of 

about 2 ft per year (Tomaszewski and others, 2002). 
State well-registration records listed 191 active wells 

screened in the Sparta aquifer in Claiborne Parish in 2009, 

including 69 domestic, 56 public-supply, 37 industrial, and 

29 irrigation wells. Depths of these wells ranged from 60 to 

792 ft below land surface, with a median depth of 492 ft. State 

well-registration records for Claiborne Parish indicated that 

yields from wells screened in the Sparta aquifer range from 

3 to 901 gal/min. In 2010, groundwater withdrawals from the 

Sparta aquifer in Claiborne Parish totaled about 2.38 Mgal/d and 

included about 2.19 Mgal/d for public-supply, 0.13 Mgal/d for 

rural-domestic use, 0.03 Mgal/d for livestock, and 0.03 Mgal/d 

for general irrigation. 

A statistical summary of selected water-quality 

characteristics for freshwater samples collected from 80 wells 

screened in the Sparta aquifer in Claiborne Parish is listed in 

table 3. Based on median values of constituents, freshwater 

from the aquifer generally is soft2 and generally does not exceed 

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Secondary 

Maximum Contaminant Levels3 (SMCLs) for drinking water for 

pH, chloride, and dissolved solids. Water in some areas exceeds 

the SMCLs for iron, manganese, and color. 

Surface-Water Resources 

In 2010, about 0.18 Mgal/d of surface water were 

withdrawn in Claiborne Parish, which included about 

0.15 Mgal/d for industrial use and 0.03 Mgal/d for livestock 

(table 2). All water withdrawals came from miscellaneous 

streams (table 1). Notable streams in the parish include Corney 

Bayou, which drains the northeastern corner of the parish, 

Middle Fork Bayou D’Arbonne, which drains the north-central 

area of the parish, and Bayou D’Arbonne, which drains the 

central part of the parish (fig. 1). These three streams generally 

flow towards the southeast and are part of the Ouachita 

River drainage basin. Black Lake Bayou, Bear Creek, and 

Leatherman Creek (fig. 1) drain the southwestern corner of 

the parish. These three streams generally flow towards the 

south and are part of the Red River drainage basin (Prakken 

and Wright, 2009). Black Bayou and Flat Lick Bayou (fig. 1) 

drain western areas of the parish and are part of the Red River 

drainage basin. 

Lake Claiborne formed after a dam on Bayou D’Arbonne 

was completed in 1966. The spillway crest has an elevation 

of 185 ft, and when full, the reservoir has a surface area of 

10 square miles (mi2) (6,400 acres), an average depth of 16 ft, 

and a drainage area of 133 mi2 . Data collected in the 1960s and 

1970s (table 4) indicated that water in the reservoir is generally 

soft, with low chloride and sulfate concentrations. During the 

summer months, the lake becomes stratified and the oxygen 

in the water near the bottom becomes depleted. This lack of 

oxygen allows the concentrations of hydrogen sulfide, iron, and 

manganese to increase to nuisance levels (Shampine, 1971). 

Table 3. Summary of selected water-quality characteristics for freshwater in the Sparta aquifer in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana (U.S. 

Geological Survey, 2012b).

[Values are in milligrams per liter, except as noted. °C, degrees Celsius; PCU, platinum cobalt units; μS/cm, microsiemens per centimeter; SU, standard units; 

CaCO3, calcium carbonate; μg/L, micrograms per liter; NA, not applicable; SMCL, Secondary Maximum Contaminant Level established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2012)]

Temperature (°C)Color,

(PCU)

Specific 

conductance, 

field (μS/cm

at 25 °C)

pH,

field

(SU)

Hardness 

(as CaCO3)

Chloride,

filtered

(as Cl)

Iron,

filtered 

(μg/L as Fe)

Manganese,

filtered

(μg/L

as Mn)

Dissolved 

solids, 

filtered

Sparta aquifer (1942–2009) (80 wells)

Median 22.0 10 226 7.6 19 11 250 10 171

10th percentile 21.0 5 120 6.6 4 4.9 40 0 113

90th percentile 24.0 40 506 8.4 97 28 2,100 100 308

Number of samples 29 45 46 46 79 78 38 28 47

Percentage of 

samples that do 

not exceed SMCLs

NA 62 NA 87 NA 100 55 71 100

SMCLs

NA 15 NA 6.5–8.5 NA 250 300 50 500

2

Hardness ranges, expressed as milligrams per liter of calcium carbonate, are 

as follows: 0–60, soft; 61–120, moderately hard; 121–180, hard; greater than 

180, very hard (Hem, 1985). 3

The SMCLs are nonenforceable Federal guidelines regarding cosmetic 

effects (such as tooth or skin discoloration) or aesthetic effects (such as taste, 

odor, or color) of drinking water. At high concentrations or values, health 

implications as well aesthetic degradation might exist. SMCLs were

established as guidelines for the states by the U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency (1992).
Table 4. Selected water-quality characteristics for Lake Claiborne near Aycock, Louisiana (U.S. Geological Survey, 2012c).

[Values are in milligrams per liter, except as noted. °C, degrees Celsius; μS/cm, microsiemens per centimeter; SU, standard units; μg/L, micrograms per liter; 

CaCO3, calcium carbonate; NA, not applicable; —, no data; SMCL, Secondary Maximum Contaminant Level established by the U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency (2012)]

Sample 

Date

Specific

conductance,

field (μS/cm

at 25 °C)

Oxygen, 

dissolved

pH,

field

(SU)

Hardness 

(as CaCO3)

Calcium, 

filtered

(as Ca)

Magnesium, 

filtered

(as Mg)

Sodium, 

filtered

(as Na)

Chloride, 

filtered

(as Cl)

Sulfate, 

filtered

(as SO4)

 Lake Claiborne, 1969–761

3/24/1969 63 — 6.8 19 5.5 1.3 3.9 4.9 4.4

7/9/1969 60 — 6.5 18 5.0 1.3 3.7 3.9 4.0

9/15/1969 67 — 7.0 19 6.4 0.7 4 4.5 2.6

2/2/1970 69 — 7.0 20 5.5 1.5 4 5.0 3.8

7/12/1970 57 — 6.3 16 5.2 0.7 3.2 4.0 4.4

11/18/1975 43 7.8 6.8 10 2.4 1.0 2.7 3.5 3.6

2/25/1976 41 10 6.2 10 2.3 1.0 2.9 4.0 5.6

4/14/1976 44 8.1 6.6 8 2.0 0.7 3.5 4.7 6.0

7/14/1976 49 8.2 7.2 10 3.2 0.5 3.3 4.2 5.2

SMCLs

NA NA 6.5–8.5 NA NA NA NA 250 250

1

Station number 07364840 (U.S. Geological Survey, 2012c; specific data at http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/la/nwis/qwdata/?site_no=07364840
By Robert B. Fendick, Jr., Lawrence B. Prakken, and 

Jason M. Griffith

For additional information, contact: 

Director, USGS Louisiana Water Science Center

3535 S. Sherwood Forest Blvd., Suite 120

Baton Rouge, LA 70816

E-mail: dc_la@usgs.gov

Fax: (225) 298–5490

Telephone: (225) 298–5481

Home Page: http://la.water.usgs.gov

This fact sheet was published by the U.S. 

Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Louisiana 

Department of Transportation and Development 

(DOTD). Thanks are given to Zahir “Bo” Bolourchi, 

Director, Water Resources Programs, Louisiana 

Department of Transportation and Development, who 

contributed to the content and design of the fact sheet.

Cited References 

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ground-water map no. 13—Hydrogeology and potentiometric 

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02–4053, 3 sheets, accessed January 24, 2012, at http://pubs.

er.usgs.gov/publication/wri024053.

Freiwald, D.A., and Johnson, S.F., 2008, Monitoring of Sparta aquifer 

recovery in southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana, 2003-

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August 9, 2012, at http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/fs20073102.

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characteristics of natural water (3d ed.): U.S. Geological Survey 

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