Are You Guilty Of Breaking This Simple Louisiana Law?

The website for personal injury attorney, Morris Bart, posted a number of Louisiana laws, that a good number of us could be proven guilty for violating.

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Thank the Lord that most of these are not longer enforced, but it makes you wonder what prompted the state of Louisiana's need for such legislation to begin with.

Included in the article on Bart's website were laws like:

• Snoring is prohibited unless all bedroom windows are closed and securely locked.
• You may not put a bed to the “ultimate test” before buying it.
• Ordering a pizza to be delivered to your friend without them knowing could land you a $500 fine.
• Taxi drivers are prohibited from making love in the front seat of their taxi during their shifts.
• One-handed bicycle riding is prohibited. Every rider of a bicycle, tricycle or other vehicle propelled by hand or foot must keep at least one hand on the handlebars while riding.

But it was the law regarding the contamination of water supplies that really captured my attention.

• It is illegal to urinate in the water supply and an infraction may cost you up to 20 years in prison.

So, anyone who has urinated in Cross Lake (Shreveport's water supply) or Red River (Bossier City's water supply) has indeed broken the law, and could face up to twenty years imprisonment.

Here's how that law, RS 14:58, reads:

Contaminating water supplies

A.  Contaminating water supplies is the intentional performance of any act tending to contaminate any private or public water supply.

B.(1) Whoever commits the crime of contaminating water supplies, when the act foreseeably endangers the life or health of human beings, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than twenty years, or both.

(2)  Whoever commits the crime of contaminating water supplies, when the act does not foreseeably endanger the life or health of human beings, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than five years, or both.

Acts 2014, No. 791, §7.

So, for anyone who has gone fishing on Cross Lake and found the need to relieve themselves in the lake, you've broken the law. (Trust me, it happens nearly every day)

And for those who have gone on a long boat ride, maybe a little too long, on the Red River, and found yourself in need of a little bladder relief, guess what, you're a law breaker as well.

Course, for those just swimming in either of these bodies of water and found a way to secretly relieve themselves, it would be hard to prove that you've broken the law, unless that little pill that makes the water turn blue when you pee in it really does exist.

I'm sure that most everyone who reads this won't give it any thought whatsoever the next time they're out on Cross Lake and really need to go. They'll just let 'er rip...cause we're all just a little bit rebel like that!