INDIANAPOLIS — Concerns are growing over the future of Eagle Creek Reservoir on the northwest side of Indianapolis. The reservoir is expected to be a major water source for the LEAP District under development in Boone County.
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In recent weeks, neighbors have posted signs along the causeway on 56th Street, opposing a Lebanon Utilities proposal to deposit treated wastewater into Eagle Creek. The opposition comes as the utility expands to serve residents in Lebanon and industrial tenants in the LEAP District.
A meeting with the Indianapolis City-County Council Parks and Recreation Committee has given some residents hope that the plan could be altered.
Committee Chair Dan Boots asked Lebanon Utilities directly if the company would consider relocating the outfall for the wastewater project. During Thursday’s meeting, the utility said it is still in the planning stages, and Eagle Creek is only one possible site.
The final location has not yet been determined.
The current proposal under consideration involves discharging 25 million gallons of wastewater into the reservoir. Many residents worry about long-term consequences, particularly if environmental protections change.
“Now there might be enough there to assure us that water is not going to kill the fish or cause those green blue algae blooms, which I got E. coli this summer, swimming, so I know all about that. They have to close that beach all the time in the summer,” said Dawn Ramey, who lives near Eagle Creek.
Ramey visits the park daily in the summer to swim, hike and enjoy the outdoors. She is one of more than 15,000 people to sign a petition urging Lebanon Utilities to reconsider.
“This will affect our water quality,” said Rachael Wolverton, who also lives near the reservoir and started the petition. “This is our drinking water for Indianapolis. Not to mention how this affects our environment. The beauty, the natural beauty that Indianapolis still has with Eagle Creek.”
Citizens Energy has had a contract with Indianapolis for years to draw a set amount of water from Eagle Creek. That agreement expires this summer.
Residents are hopeful that, as the city negotiates with Citizens Energy, it will include limits on how much water can be drawn from the reservoir.
“We want some language and some restrictions put in there to protect our communities,” Wolverton said.
Others want specific language prohibiting treated wastewater from the LEAP District from being discharged into Eagle Creek.
“Why is the city allowing them to say, ‘OK, we are going to dump all your wastewater into Eagle Creek’? Where is the mayor?!” Ramey said.
Citizens Energy and Lebanon Utilities are expected to take questions from the public at a meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at New Augusta Academy, 6450 Rodebaugh Road in Indianapolis. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the session begins at 7 p.m.
Residents say this will be the first time both companies answer public questions about the wastewater proposal.
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