Indiana Has Plenty of Water but Management Needs Work, Study Finds

Source: Marsha Williamson Mohr / Getty

STATEWIDE — Indiana has plenty of water but a need for new distribution ideas. That’s the conclusion of a water study that began a decade ago.

Bloomington-based INTERA Incorporated was tasked by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce in 2014 to study the state’s total supply of water, where it’s located, and how to best distribute it based on Indiana’s diverse landscape.

“Each of these ideas has been tried out,” says Jack Wittman, project leader, vice president and principal water resource hydrologist for INTERA, “how do we look at regions? How do we evaluate water availability? We didn’t really have a method before, so now there at least methodologies to say this is how much we think there is available.”

In addition, INTERA also broke down water usage for large parts of the Hoosier State.

North of the Wabash River, every community, manufacturer and irrigator has access to their own local groundwater or stream. In central Indiana, water sources are not as abundant. Water in central Indiana needs to be well-managed, says INTERA, to make sure it meets demand. That takes the utilization of reservoirs, rivers, and wells.

In southern Indiana, the study finds, regional water systems like Patoka Lake, Monroe Lake, and Brookville Reservoir serve as primary water sources and have since the 1960s.

With this information, Wittman argues it’s up to legislators and local community leaders to lay the foundation for the future of water management and treatment in Indiana, “what we have to do is think about how future demand might be distributed and how that looks, whether it’s a matter of organic growth from cities or whether we’re actually building mega-developments in particular areas. In either case, we have to understand what the effects of high demand for water might be in different basins.”

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