Mounds Reservoir proposal attracts protest as well it should

May 28, 2013- by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor 

My very first environmental involvement was when I was running for congress in 1976. At the time, industrial and agricultural interests, desiring a cheaper way to transport their wares around the globe were pushing the second coming of the nefarious 1860s Wabash Canal, which caused Indiana government to declare bankruptcy.

At that time, proposals, pushed mainly by then 7th District Indiana Congressman, John Myers, sought to both “canalize” and “channelize” the shallow and meandering Wabash River at least to Terre Haute, then on to Lafayette and beyond.

Those plans were thwarted by a rather loose band of environmentalists, headed up by Hoosier environmental icon, Tom Dustin and his wife, Jane. I was proud to have been a part of the group who fought and won a multi year battle to keep the Wabash natural and intact.

One thing I learned during that fight was that dam building to make reservoirs used to supply the required transportation depth of the shallow river were “the most environmentally destructive projects that could ever be built.” When dams are built, not only are thousands of acres of land inundated with water but entire ecosystems are completely wiped out along with family histories and local river cultures as homes are flooded.

Now, there is a proposal to build yet another dam and lake dubbed Mounds Lake which would inundate a path along the White River at least 2,000 acres of Madison and Delaware Counties, displacing around 400 homes, numerous businesses all presumably taken through the use of eminent domain by an appointed Commission. It will also require burying some yet to be determined amount of Mounds State Park.

Projected costs of building the unneeded reservoir exceed $400 million and as yet. no one knows just how it would be financed nor by whom.

Project proponents  claim benefits of flood control, water supply, recreation. But I suspect the real reason for the proposal is to create high priced “lakefront” housing for an elite group who could afford to build mansions on the new lake.

That is not without precedent in the area.

Both Geist and Morse Reservoirs, not far from this proposed project, did just that. Indianapolis Water Company built the reservoirs, taking the land by eminent domain at low prices and then selling residential lakefront property at many time the value of the price originally paid to historic landowners.

Of course there is a direct conflict with using a reservoir for flood control as well as water supply. For flood control, you would want to keep the reservoir shallow with the ability to store rapidly rising waters during major rain events. However, for water supply the desire is to keep the reservoir at a high level in case of drought so that it could be drawn down as needed, like the reservoirs that supply water to Atlanta.

Mounds Lake is little more than a dam dream at this point but when greedy land developers get this sort of idea in their heads, too often the projects gain traction with government officials who have blinders when it comes to perceived economic development. It almost seems that any promise of jobs is instantly met with support even if those jobs displace other equally important jobs help by people who do not curry favor with the current political establishment.

Opposition is forming to the proposal and naturalist and environmentalists held a recent “paddle protest” using their canoes as weapons to drive home the fact that nature is more capable than man in creating waterways.