Hammond Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Hammond, Louisiana, in Tangipahoa Parish — the commercial hub of the Florida Parishes region between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, home of Southeastern Louisiana University, the largest city between the two Louisiana metro areas on I-12 — receives its municipal water from the City of Hammond Water System or Tangipahoa Parish Water District, which draws from the Chicot Aquifer System (a shallow confined Pleistocene sand aquifer in southeastern Louisiana) or the deeper Sparta Aquifer through the Hammond area production wells.

The very soft 52 mg/L hardness and low TDS of 85.9 mg/L reflect southeastern Louisiana's deep confined sand aquifer character — very soft, low-mineral water typical of the Gulf Coastal Plain's unconsolidated Pleistocene-Miocene deltaic sand aquifer systems. The Chicot Aquifer in southeastern Louisiana accesses Pleistocene unconsolidated alluvial and deltaic sands beneath the Mississippi River alluvial plain — sands deposited by the Mississippi River's ancient delta systems, with very limited carbonate content. The soft, acidic nature of the deep sand aquifer water (similar to the New Jersey Pine Barrens Kirkwood-Cohansey character — deltaic sand with low mineral contact) produces the very soft, low-TDS supply characteristic of the Hammond-Tangipahoa Parish corridor.

At 52 mg/L, Hammond's water is very soft — excellent for household use. Scale forms very slowly, soap lathers richly, and appliances maintain excellent efficiency. Annual descaling is more than sufficient. The PFAS level of 6.4 ppt warrants a certified drinking water filter — the Tangipahoa Parish agricultural chemical corridor, the New Orleans industrial complex upstream in the Mississippi watershed, and the broader Louisiana-Gulf Coast petroleum-chemical industrial PFAS legacy all contribute to Hammond's PFAS reading despite the naturally clean soft water source.