IDEM holds public hearing in Tippecanoe County on proposed Buck Creek and Colburn regional sewer district

An Indiana Department of Environmental Management hearing on a petition to form the Buck Creek and Colburn Regional Sewer District drew residents to the East Tipp Middle School cafeteria for technical presentations and a public-comment period.

The petition, filed with IDEM’s Office of Water Quality, is the subject of a public notice that began March 17, 2025; written comments on the petition were listed in the hearing as due by April 28, 2025. IDEM hearing officer Emily Faust told attendees the hearing’s purpose was to “give all interested parties an opportunity to comment on the petition concerning the creation of the Buck Creek And Colburn Regional Sewer District,” and that the department will accept oral and written evidence for its record.

The sewer project, as described by Tippecanoe County staff and the design team, would serve the communities of Buck Creek and Colburn and carry wastewater to a new treatment site north of Colburn. County Commissioner Tracy Brown opened the session and introduced engineers from the project design team. Engineer Steve Henshin said the plan calls for local gravity sewers in each town, two main community pump stations and a long force main between Buck Creek and Colburn. "It's a gravity sewer collection system," Henshin said, describing manholes, 8-inch main pipes in streets and isolated ejector pumps for a small number of low-lying homes.

Karl Tanner, who described the treatment components, said the proposed wastewater system would use aerated treatment lagoons with cropland irrigation for disposal. "The process is a aerated treatment lagoon with the disposal is going to be irrigation onto cropland," Tanner said. He gave the design flow as 26,000 gallons per day, said the lagoons provide roughly 60 days of detention and a separate storage lagoon provides about 120 days, and said the treatment configuration includes two roughly half-acre treatment lagoons and a storage lagoon described in the…