St. Joseph County commissioners on Tuesday approved an agreement with the town of New Carlisle that, as expected, would limit the total amount of water drawn from the area’s Kankakee Aquifer as new developments by Amazon and General Motors-Samsung are expected to slurp large amounts of water.
As The Tribune reported in June , the total usage from two water treatment plants that New Carlisle owns would be 24 million gallons per day (MGD).
That’s less than the Kankakee Aquifer’s estimated “safe yield” of 44 MGD, as long as it’s recharged as usual. About 25% to 35% of that yield is already being used.
What we found in June: Can our aquifer support big water needs of Amazon and EV plant?
If development in the Indiana Enterprise Center grows so much that it demands more water usage, the agreement allows the two governments to revisit and study whether they could raise the limit.
The agreement was previously approved by the town of New Carlisle and the county’s Redevelopment Commission .
But commissioners on Tuesday tabled an agreement between the county and Amazon Web Services in which Amazon would pay $114 million to help with expanding the water and sewer infrastructure.
Bill Schalliol, the county’s executive director of economic development, asked to table it because there is some extra language to add.
Amazon is currently building the initial parts of its $11 billion data center campus near New Carlisle. Data centers are known for using significant amounts of fresh water to cool their computers.
That agreement includes a “latecomer charge” that Amazon would receive from major users of water, using more than 400,000 gallons per day, who’d hook onto the water and sewer services within certain boundaries in the next 10 years.
The total charge of about $11.44 million per user would help Amazon with its share of the expenses to expand those services. The county would collect and pass the fee on to Amazon. The “latecomer” boundaries don’t include Amazon’s and GM-Samsung's properties.
The county is planning upgrades to the two water plants to meet the increased demand.
The estimated cost of expanding the St. Joseph Energy Center water plant is almost $21.4 million, plus $6.3 million to extend water lines, according to the water agreement that commissioners approved Tuesday. Initial improvements to the other, smaller water plant are estimated at $25 million; the town hopes to recoup 80% of that from its major user, the Cleveland Cliffs plant, the agreement states.
Those costs apparently don’t include sewer expansions.
South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com .
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Local limit set for water used by Amazon, others. Amazon to help pay for expanded services.
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