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Resident challenges county dewatering statements, cites permit data and private-well impacts
Summary
During public comment, Dan Caruso disputed prior remarks about aquifer safe yield and presented permit figures he says show authorized dewatering rates and depths (permits authorizing 450,000 gallons/hour per permit, depths 40–70 feet), raising concerns that construction-related dewatering could be linked to private well failures; the chair briefly replied with a counterpoint about three wells.
A resident used the public-comment period at the May 12 meeting to contest earlier statements about aquifer capacity and to present recent permit data that he said show substantial authorized dewatering activity connected to construction projects in the county.
Dan Caruso identified himself to the board as a local resident of New Carlisle and addressed comments made at a prior meeting. He said a previously quoted figure that the aquifer replenishes at "51,000,000 gallons per day" was not supported by the Peerless Midwest Water Study and noted what he said were permit approvals for dewatering since October 2024. Caruso said those permits authorize dewatering rates as low as 450,000 gallons per hour (which he calculated as 10,800,000 gallons per day for a single permit) and that several permits have run simultaneously "so the fact is, at times, there has been well over 20,000,000 gallons per day being flushed down 1 or more of the area drainage ditches during the construction phase of the Amazon project in New Carlisle and all of township." He also said dewatering heads described in the permits extend between 40 and 70 feet.
Caruso linked those permit figures to recent private well failures in the area and said drought alone does not account for the wells going dry. "Do we seriously need to ask what caused and is continuing to cause failures of these private wells that have served their owners for generations at about the depth of 35 feet?" he asked.
The board chair replied briefly, saying that in a prior dewatering event three wells that went dry were 12 feet deep, not 35, and stated he would circulate Caruso's written material to commissioners after the meeting. The meeting record does not show an extended staff response, data review, or a formal finding; the claims presented by the resident were not independently verified during the session.
The board did not take formal action on dewatering or well-relation issues at the meeting. Caruso said he would email supporting documents to commissioners.
