When Indiana officials created a new industrial park to attract huge microchip companies to the state, they chose a nearly 10,000-acre site near a booming metropolis, a major airport and a university research center.
But the region is missing a key ingredient to support the kind of development the state wants to attract: access to the massive amounts of water that microchip makers may need.
Authorities have launched a project to pipe huge volumes of water from an aquifer about 40 miles away. But the project has raised concerns about strain on groundwater supplies at the source, prompting widespread calls to scrap the idea, at least until more in-depth studies can be done. be carried out.
Last week, state officials said they would do just that, with Gov. Eric Holcomb and other leaders pledging to move forward on the project only once studies could be completed to ensure the sustainability of the withdrawals.
“The data – which has yet to be collected – will determine all future decisions,” Governor Holcomb said in a press release.
The fight in Indiana is an example of heightened tension around water, as urban growth, industrial demands and uneven regulations collide in communities that are putting increasing pressure on their limited supplies of groundwater. Beyond all that is a changing climate and the potential for more erratic weather, including droughts like the one that dried out the state in 2012.
Critics say the pipeline project could cause some residential wells to dry up and put excessive pressure on an aquifer that farmers rely on for irrigation, as well as possibly reducing the flow of nearby rivers and streams. Supporters say early tests show the aquifer contains plenty of water and that new investments — including a pharmaceutical factory to make a rival drug to diabetes and weight loss drug Ozempic — would create jobs and would stimulate the economy.
The debate also revealed how the state’s lack of groundwater regulation could lead to future problems in the region, which is trying to take advantage of Biden administration funding for chip research and development.
“We are not against economic development and growth, we just want to make sure our citizens in our region are protected and our valuable resources are protected,” said Indiana State Representative Sharon Negele .
Indiana leaders have courted semiconductor companies from South Korea, Taiwan and Japan in hopes of turning the state into a microchip hub. But making chips requires huge amounts of water to avoid contamination.
The Central Indiana Industrial Park is located in Lebanon, Indiana, surrounded by corn and bean fields. Water is in increasing demand there, not only because of population growth in neighboring Indianapolis, but also because of the gravel mining industry which uses large quantities of water to cool the stone during cutting and to keep dust away.
The plan by officials of a quasi-public economic development corporation would transport water from an aquifer beneath the Wabash River in Tippecanoe County to the new industrial park, which is in an area that lacks significant river access and to lakes or large groundwaters.
Officials said they could transfer up to 100 million gallons per day, an amount Rep. Negele called “shocking.” By comparison, she said, the city of Lafayette, Indiana, with its population of more than 71,000, uses 17 million gallons per day.
“The state seems to have targeted us, and they’re using our money to fight us and steal the water,” said Jeff Findley, a retired well driller who lives in Tippecanoe County and leads a group of opposition against the project. .
Indiana allows most groundwater users to pump as much as they want. Because many areas of the state have access to sufficient water, regulation largely comes only after a crisis, Rep. Negele said.
This is a trend that exists in other states. This year, a New York Times investigation into groundwater regulation across the country found a patchwork of state and local rules so lax and outdated that in many places oversight is virtually nonexistent. Groundwater is dangerously depleting nationwide, The Times has uncovered a problem exacerbated by climate change.
Indiana regulators track major groundwater users by requiring them to register and self-report their annual withdrawals. But the state has relatively few monitoring wells to track groundwater levels, scientists say. And responsibility for water issues is divided among several state agencies.
Land is being prepared in Boone County, where the industrial park, called LEAP for Limitless Exploration/Advanced Pace, would be located.
Eli Lilly and Company announced plans to build two new $2.1 billion manufacturing sites there to make its weight-loss drug and others. Lilly plans to draw its water from existing sources in Lebanon rather than relying on water pipes, a company spokeswoman said.
Would-be chipmakers would need a lot more water. Indiana is still hurting from being left out last year by Intel, which chose Ohio as the site of a $20 billion chip factory.
In November, after complaints about the economic development corporation’s lack of transparency, Governor Holcomb transferred responsibility for a groundwater study to the Indiana Finance Authority. He also announced plans for a broader regional water study in north-central Indiana, as well as the installation of new water monitoring devices.
The study will provide data «to better understand how much excess water is actually available to support the growth of the entire surrounding region before any action is taken that could inadvertently endanger this necessary resource,» the study said. governor in a November press release. release.
His office did not respond to a request for comment. At a press conference last week, he said that «not a single drop of water will be delivered until we know how much is needed, not just for this region, but for a larger region of Indiana.”
A spokesperson for the Indiana State Department of Natural Resources, which helps regulate groundwater, declined to comment beyond sending links to official websites showing the state’s large water users. the state and a brochure describing the rules relating to groundwater. The state can restrict pumping during drought and if it determines an aquifer is not recharging, according to the brochure.
Hydrologists say some aquifers can withstand extraordinarily large withdrawals because they recharge with rain and snowmelt. Additionally, some industrial users of groundwater discharge it into the watershed. But that wouldn’t be the case for water withdrawn in Tippecanoe County, opponents say.
The aquifer there supports several large farmers of corn, soybeans, wheat, hay and other crops, which require irrigation because they are largely grown on sandy soils. Carly Sheets, whose husband farms in Granville, Ind., said officials conducted tests on a well during the summer irrigation season.
“For the first time, neighboring homes noticed gravel in their filter, gravel in their sinks and toilets, a drop in water pressure and odors of hydrogen sulfide,” she wrote in an email, adding: “The state’s solution to restoring a depleted aquifer is to deplete another.
In early December, Tippecanoe County commissioners voted to place a nine-month moratorium on significant groundwater withdrawals from the area, a move intended to put the project on hold until lawmakers could act at next year’s session. Rep. Negele, among others, intends to push for measures that would create a permitting process for large groundwater users.
Keith Cherkauer, a professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue University and director of the Indiana Water Resources Research Center, said that under normal circumstances it is possible that the aquifer beneath the river Wabash can withstand enormous withdrawals. But he worries about years of drought.
Heavy withdrawals during drought could significantly reduce the river’s flow, he said, as well as cause nearby homeowners’ shallow wells to dry up. Most of the state’s crops are rain-fed, he explained, but irrigation has generally been on the rise since the 2012 drought.
“Since the state has no regulation or authorization, there is nothing stopping another, another, and another,” he said, referring to users who want to make huge withdrawals. “And, at some point, you break the aquifer.”