This dataset provides measurements of particulate organic carbon (POC) concentrations made on water samples collected during 2021 in surface waters of the Atchafalaya River and Terrebonne Basins, portions of the Mississippi River Delta in coastal Louisiana. Water samples were collected at ~0.5 m depth from surface during the spring (2021-03-25 to 2021-04-22) and fall (2021-08-14 to 2021-09-24) field efforts. Field sampling was paused on August 25 and resumed on September 13 due to the landfall of Hurricane Ida on 2021-08-26 approximately 70 km east of the study sites. Water quality changes in this dataset caused by the hurricane are expected to be minimal. Samples were collected in multiple channels of varying width (from a few meters to >100 m) near Delta-X intensive study sites, in open bays and lakes, and a few locations in the nearshore Gulf of Mexico. For each sample, the water sample volume was filtered (in triplicate) through 25-mm glass microfiber (GF/F) filters to retain the suspended particles. The amount of organic carbon retained on each filter was measured using an elemental carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen (CHN) analyzer and normalized by the volume of sample water filtered. The reported values in this dataset include the mean and standard deviation of POC measurements from three replicate samples collected at each site.