New Indiana water study shows strong supply, but a need for more management planning

A new study indicates a strong water supply in Indiana, but a greater, more urgent need for management planning. (Photo from the Central Indiana Land Trust)

As Indiana contemplates a massive and controversial water pipeline, a new study shows that the state’s water supply is “plentiful,” but not evenly distributed. Researchers said that caveat makes completion of a statewide water management plan — driven by local input — even more urgent.

The report , released Monday, was commissioned by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. It follows a similar study on the state’s water supply released by the chamber a decade ago.

Greg Ellis, vice president of energy and environmental policy for the Indiana chamber, said the goal is to help set the stage for an integrated water management plan for the state — a key infrastructure and energy priority in the chamber’s Indiana Prosperity 2035 plan.

Like the first effort, the latest study was prepared by Texas-based environmental consulting firm INTERA Incorporated, which has a location in Bloomington.

“The Indiana chamber has prioritized the state having superior infrastructure and energy through its latest visioning plan for the state. … The specific water goal is to invest in a framework and planning to address fresh and wastewater needs on a statewide and regional basis to meet current and future demand for economic development,” Ellis said. “We believe this study offers the guidance to help us get there. It looks at the current water levels and what legislators and planners can do to ensure that the state is in the strongest future position possible.”

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The study doesn’t specifically focus on a much-debated plan to pipe water from an aquifer in Tippecanoe County to a mammoth industrial campus in Boone County, though researchers did note that the project “has brought the conversation about water resource planning and industrial development to the forefront.”

The project supported by Indiana economic development officials — dubbed the Limitless Exploration/Advanced Pace (LEAP) Research and Innovation District — could bring construction of a pipeline that stretches 50 miles, carrying up to 100 million gallons of water daily.

Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co. has planned a $3.7 billion facility at LEAP; the state is also competing to attract a water-guzzling semiconductor manufacturing facility worth $50 billion and other large plants. But Boone County alone doesn’t have enough water to support the campus.

State officials are continuing to study the feasibility of the pipeline and its potential impacts on regional water supplies. A separate, multi-phase INTERA study — funded by the Indiana Economic Development Corp. — showed “abundant” water availability, but the analysis was criticized for its independence.

At Gov. Eric Holcomb’s behest, the Indiana Finance Authority assumed control of a more comprehensive water study in November. Initial study results released in June concluded that water withdrawals in the state’s north-central region have dropped — not risen — over the last two decades. A more exhaustive analysis is expected this fall.

“The question is about how much water is there in the basin, and how much would any proposed withdrawal affect that total? … We don’t know yet, because those studies are not yet finished,” said Jack Wittman, vice president and principal water resource hydrologist for INTERA. “There is no shortage (of water) in the state. What there is — there might be management questions and management tasks, but that’s about it. It’s not really about, is there enough to satisfy the needs of all of the different users? It’s more about, can we manage the supplies? Can we build the infrastructure to do that?”

Water in Indiana is ‘plentiful,’ but not evenly distributed

Indiana has “abundant” water resources, but that abundance varies from north to south, according to the study.

For example, north of the Wabash River, every community, manufacturer and irrigator reportedly has access to their own local groundwater or stream, researchers said. Because of the “thicker, more productive aquifers” in northern Indiana, most landowners can supply their homes with a shallow well and high-capacity wells rarely fail.

In central Indiana, however, water has to be well-managed to meet demand, given that it contains a diversity of sources like reservoirs, rivers and well fields. Researchers noted there are some counties in the central region of the state that have “very limited aquifers and few streams,” but regional supplies from neighboring counties or utilities “are likely available.”

And in southern Indiana, “regional water systems have long been the foundation of growth and economic development,” relying since the 1960s on sources that include Patoka Lake, Monroe Lake and Brookville Reservoir, according to the report.

“Southern Indiana supplies are dominated by regional reservoirs, and a collection of county rural water districts who supply their systems from small reservoirs or water purchased wholesale from distant supplies,” the report said. “The communities in Southern Indiana built resilient utilities by sourcing water from relatively distant, high-yield regional water supplies across multiple counties.”

Additionally, the study found that while total withdrawals for industrial use are declining overall, capacity may be added regionally as opportunities open for new development.

To avoid conflict, the study authors maintained that new facilities need to have access to adequate cooling and process water as well as guidance for planning new wastewater returns. In previous decades, industrial water use steadily declined and the use of surface water correspondingly dropped.

“New developments could reverse this trend, so the state needs to consider these plans carefully as the availability within any basin is determined,” the study noted. “Where local supplies are unable to satisfy demands for process water, proposals for inter-basin transfers need to be developed with some basic guidance and direction from the state.”

The report also points out that groundwater withdrawal has increased more rapidly than surface water diversions since the last chamber study in 2014. Researchers said the state’s aquifers are becoming increasingly important as a means of satisfying seasonal demands while controlling costs of treatment and conveyance.

“I think that the northern part of the state has huge resources, and so that gives some room to maneuver. But it still needs to be careful for a bunch of reasons, with how the use affects people in the region,” Wittman said, adding that “the southern part of the state already has these large reservoirs, so it has resources already developed in certain locations. And I think those should be where clusters of development occur, just because the water is there.”

“But the middle of the state is an area that has extremely variable water availability,” he continued. “The middle of the state is probably where management is going to be most intensive, most careful. There will need to be enough data to actually make decisions. So, that’s probably the area that I would focus on (in regards to planning). It’s also where a lot of growth is happening … Central Indiana is where there’s a lot of people, where there are growing communities and industry.”

Better management to meet demand

Because each tier of the state has different access to water and “widely different experience” moving the resource from distant sources of supply, the report emphasized varying levels of “trust and comfort” among different water user communities as they “identify and then solve their common water supply issues.”

“In the North, there is a large gap between what people know (i.e., independent utilities, each with adequate supplies) and what regional planning requires. In Central Indiana utilities have only had a few years of experience talking about their future plans. However, these “regional collaborative” meetings have become a forum for discussions that avoid conflict with industrial water users and expand their supplies to satisfy growth,” the study authors said.

In southern Indiana, researchers further said there are fewer discussions about working together than in central Indiana “because regionalization is the status quo — water utilities and industry have an available set of supply solutions.” Unlike the other parts of the state, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources works with communities who withdraw water from the regional reservoirs and pipe it to its destination.

Recommendations outlined in the study include further emphasis on planning; continued coordination by the Indiana Finance Authority to evaluate water infrastructure needs and solutions; sustainable statewide funding; establishing criteria for setting environmental flows and a framework for data monitoring; developing guidance for regional plans; and cultivating a living state water plan (to build on regional plans).

“The state has a job to do before the regions can begin their work,” Wittman said, referring to ongoing data gathering at the state level. “The state has the job of looking at and inventorying the water supply and water availability. And that’s the first step. And then the handoff has to happen to the regions.”

Chamber leadership said using the water study findings to craft meaningful legislation and processes will be the next phase of work.

“Local governments need to be more involved in the process,” Wittman suggested. “There are experiences that counties have now with being more directly involved in the question of water. That needs to be brought to the table and considered.”

Ellis said the chamber will meet with lawmakers ahead of the next session to go over the research “and to help shape policy as we move into 2025.”

“We’ll also be reaching out to local chambers and government officials across the state to share this study and provide this information, especially in communities that feel like they’re impacted by this,” he continued.

Even so, Wittman said it will likely take another five to 10 years for a state management plan to come full circle.

“The time really has a lot to do with how much funding and urgency that the legislature sees,” he said. “And I think that the one good thing about the LEAP project was that it helped people see why what we’re doing today might not be enough. It helps us see what other things we can do to make sure that we already anticipated these questions, and we’re ready with information and data.”

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