County sets water usage limit on Amazon, GM projects

 

SAINT JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- Two major Saint Joseph County developments will have access to tens of millions of gallons of water a day under a new limit.

The county has now set water usage limits for the Amazon Data Services and the General Motors Battery Plant developments in New Carlisle.

An agreement signed between County Commissioners, the County Redevelopment Commission, and the town of New Carlisle allows for these businesses to use up to a combined 24 million gallons of water a day from the Kankakee Aquifer.

People concerned about the water supply in the aquifer say having a water usage cap is a good start, but they don't think it'll be sustainable as New Carlisle sees more development and growth in the coming years.

"Sorry Amazon, but we're first in line," says Dan Caruso, a New Carlisle resident.

With the two major county developments, Amazon and General Motors, beginning to plan for their water usage, residents like Caruso worry about how that liquid wealth will be shared, with some already making the decision to drill their personal wells deeper into the aquifer.

"There's a lot of people that depend on that aquifer," Caruso says.

Saint Joseph County Commissioner Carl Baxmeyer says the current agreement places a 24-million-gallon daily cap on the projects' water usage out of a 44.5-million-gallon daily "safe yield" in the Kankakee Aquifer.

It's not clear exactly how many gallons of water Amazon and GM plan to use.

"At 24 million gallons we are well above the safe-yield, and this just provides additional protections for the aquifer," explains Commissioner Baxmeyer.

Although Baxmeyer says the 24-million-gallon cap should be a comfortable water supply, if another big user comes along the way, it won't be at the taxpayer's expense and the county would make sure it doesn't put residents at risk.

"If we have in the future another user that needs significant amounts of water, we won't just go ahead without studying what the effects would be," Baxmeyer assures.

That's something Caruso expects to happen at some point.

"With all the growth that we're expecting out there, I 'd expect us to push that 24-million-gallon cap," Caruso predicts.

It's still up to the County Council to make this agreement official, but Baxmeyer says the county is negotiating with Amazon for the company to commit millions towards needed infrastructure improvements.