Indiana Economic Development Corp. would supply LEAP Lebanon district with water from Wabash River near Lafayette
Jul. 29—State officials plan to pipe billions of gallons of water from an aquifer below the Wabash River to Lebanon to supply the LEAP Lebanon Innovation District.
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation is buying about 9,000 acres of Boone County farmland on which to develop the district and has promised to supply the utilities needed to run it.
LEAP stands for Limitless Exploration Advanced Pace. The district is known informally as a hard-tech corridor. Hard-tech industries typically require significant amounts of water.
Lebanon Mayor Matthew Gentry said last year the city's water and sewage systems are aging and unable to meet the expected demand of the district and related growth.
New water infrastructure built by the state would solve Lebanon's water supply and sewage treatment challenges for the next 100 years, he said.
LEAP, on Lebanon's northwest side, is the largest economic development in state history. Anchor tenant Eli Lilly and Company's $3.7 billion investment to build a pharmaceutical complex in the district is the largest economic investment in state history.
State leaders said in early 2022 meetings with Lebanon and Boone County officials they would supply water to the site. And Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers said during an April groundbreaking for Lilly that putting significant economic development infrastructure in Boone County would solve a water problem for the region and is a good investment in the state's future.
Some of the water may eventually be supplied to Marion County, which faces its own shortage, state leaders have said during community meetings concerning annexation of the district's acres and other topics.
Despite repeated questions from municipal, county, and grassroots community leaders, no one from the state would name the water source, nor how it would be delivered to Lebanon. They would not say where the wastewater would go.
But the IEDC in May entered into a $10.2 million contract with Black & Veach Corp. of Indianapolis to, "provide program management of the water and wastewater infrastructure program," according to the 57-page agreement.
The contract also includes a proposed wastewater treatment plant that would accept flow from the LEAP district, treat it, and pipe it to the Eagle Creek Reservoir. The pipes are to run roughly along Interstate 65.
The pipeline would at first pump 10-20 million gallons of water daily to Boone County, Gentry told WTHR Indianapolis, the The Lebanon Reporter's news gathering partner. The number could jump to 100 million gallons per day when new industries move in, he said.
Lebanon Utilities can handle the water and wastewater demand for Lilly before a utilities expansion, Gentry said previously.
Some Tippecanoe County leaders were taken by surprise by news of the proposed water pipeline drawing from the Wabash Alluvial aquifer and voiced concerns. Lafayette, West Lafayette, and area towns draw drinking water from the Wabash Teays aquifer, according to WTHR. It's unclear how one may affect the other.
But the IEDC said in part in a statement to the news station that the pipeline would address an "inevitable Central Indiana water deficiency," and is unlikely to adversely affect water availability in and around Lafayette.
The project is in the design and engineering phase at present, and the state has promised to delay the pipeline until viability testing is complete and results are shared with Tippecanoe County authorities, WTHR reported.
