One thing that's going right in Indiana

May 27, 2010
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In a state where the parade of bad news—education levels, income shortfalls, poor health—never seems to end, an issue that’s huge news in other parts of the world is all but irrelevant.

Water is about as plentiful as air in Indiana. With a few exceptions, the state is blessed with an abundance of both surface and ground water.

If anyone would know about shortages, it would be Mark Basch, who has been tracking water levels for the Department of Natural Resources for a quarter century. So let’s put it this way: If Basch needed emergency-based adrenaline rushes to stay interested in his job, he’d have quit a long time ago.

“It doesn’t appear we’re seeing this long-term trend in water levels dropping,” Basch says. “We don’t see an overall lowering of groundwater levels in the state.”

Indiana gets so much rain that even after the drought of 1988, aquifers drawn down by agricultural irrigation refilled within a year or two.

The Indianapolis area is little different than other parts of the state, he says. During dry stretches, some wells on the south side of the city are drawn down a few feet, but that’s about all.

Basch won’t speculate on the state’s water capacity. But he emphasizes it’s a lot more than current usage.

That beats areas of the world where rivers dry up before reaching the ocean and aquifers are dwindling with little hope of recharge. The issue promises to spark more conflicts as populations rise.

Any thoughts on water? Is it so plentiful that we Hoosiers are inclined to waste?
 

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  • What about water quality?
    Water may be plentiful, but what can we do to clean it up? Most Indiana waterways are not safe for fishing or swimming, due to run off from factory farms and lawns. Let's work together to de-pollute Indiana's water assets.

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  1. Good ole' Obamacare. Thanks liberals and those who didn't bother to vote.

  2. Yes. Blame those who were too lazy to go vote Obama out and those who voted him in again. That's my take on it. I know folks won't get it on the left. OK. Start berating me now!

  3. Serioulsy, people are AGINST this project? Most communities would be salivating over a project like this. You'd rather have an empty eye-sore gas station and shacks posing as apartments? This project is exactly what BR needs. BUILD IT MR MAYOR. And yes, I am a BR resident, and have been for 20 years.

  4. As a St. Vincent employee of over 20 years, I am saddened and disheartened by this announcement. Unfortunately, as the healthcare "industry" continues on this political and corporate path, all that St. Vincent Hospital has stood for spiritually for its employees and this community is being sucked dry. I know it truly has no choice. It is not just Obamacare or just competition or just any single thing. This trend started long before I was even born when the government became involved in healthcare and it became an "industry." I grieve for those who will lose their jobs, one of whom may be me, but I also grieve for this hospital which I have served for over 20 years. May God give us and it the grace to withstand the future of healthcare.

  5. Why do people constantly harp on this issue and act ignorant about what a city population measures? A city's population is the city's population. There is no argument or debate about it. If you want to measure the density of a city--measure it. If you want to measure the size of a metropolitan area, then measure the metropolitan population. City boundaries cover different sized areas--and they always have (though the disparity has probably increased since about 1900 or so when more cities began annexing their surrounding communities). For example, San Francisco only covers 49 square miles while Houston cover nearly 600 square miles. No one argues about the population rankings of either city even though they clearly cover extremely different sized areas. Indianapolis is the 13 largest city by population in the U.S. That is a fact. While the population of a metropolitan area may give you a better sense of how large a community is, as noted, even metro areas can vary widely in the size of geographic area they cover--so that is not a perfect comparison either.

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