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.

By Casey Smith
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANA — 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 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 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.

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.

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.

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 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).

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

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.”

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