Commissioners adopt Wellhead Protection and High‑Capacity Water Supply ordinances

Liberty Flora of Intera presented two related ordinances designed to protect groundwater and manage high-capacity water users. She said the Wellhead Protection Ordinance establishes zones around public water supply wells using time-of-travel modeling, creates a groundwater overlay tied to the county's outwash systems, and routes review of development within those zones to the County Surveyor; new well field development would involve the Plan Commission. Flora noted Indiana does not have water rights and that withdrawals at or above 100,000 gallons per day are reported to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).

Flora continued with the High-Capacity Water Supply Development Ordinance, which requires large groundwater and surface water users to submit plans to the Plan Commission and includes testing protocols — specifically an 8-hour step test and a 72-hour aquifer pump test — with testing conducted by qualified contractors and drawdown factored into the county's internal review. The Board adopted Ordinance No. 2026-7 and Ordinance No. 2026-8 on 3-0 votes.

Staff indicated the ordinances fill county-level regulatory gaps by creating submission pathways for large water users and routing technical review internally before approvals.