This presentation summarizes the most recent analysis of future water demand and available supplies in
the 9-county Central Indiana Planning Region: Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Madison,
Marion, Morgan, and Shelby counties. Like most larger cities in the Midwest, water supplies in Central
Indiana are primarily surface water diversions. Indianapolis’ water supply is the largest public water
supply in the state and most of the source water comes from upstream intakes along the West Fork
White River and storage in reservoirs to supplement seasonal low flows. These supplies have historically
been stressed by droughts but the addition of strategically located well fields and new storage and
transmission infrastructure by all the communities in Central Indiana have increased supplies and overall
resilience. The water-availability analysis used existing data on stream flows, high-capacity water
withdrawals, wastewater (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, NPDES) discharges, and
climate projections to calculate the water budget in Central Indiana during the critical low-flow, high-use
quarter of the year (Summer). While this report identifies actions that will need to be taken in the next
decades, new reservoirs and improved collaboration have already improved the area’s long-term water
security.
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