A bright spotlight was put on water rights following the LEAP project in Boone County and has been made a priority for farm groups around Indiana. At the Statehouse, Indiana Farm Bureau is showing support for Senate Bill 28 introduced by LaGrange Senator Sue Glick.
“Much of the industry that’s moving in, we’ve got some significant water users,” says Glick.
She points to battery factories and data centers as just a couple. For farmers, Glick says it’s critical that we protect your ability to make sure the water turns on for your livestock or for your irrigation pivot, so SB28 makes sure that companies can’t just come in and use up all the water.
“If, in fact, their development impairs the ability of those farmers or those ag operations to withdraw water for their uses, if it dries up a well, if it significantly impairs water in that aquifer, then that new operation must compensate. And that means either delivering water to that operation in an emergency fashion or making permanent decisions in regard to replacement of that water so that those users who have been using that water for years still have the opportunity to continue their operations.”
That doesn’t mean handing you a check, but it does mean covering the costs associated with hooking you up to a new water supply or digging the groundwater well deeper.
Current law already provides this protection to residential wells, but SB28 expands this protection for wells utilized for food production. Glick is hopeful this makes it through because, for farmers, the ramifications could be disastrous if it doesn’t.
“If they can’t take care of their stock, if they can’t take care of their land, then they’re out of business.”
You can read the bill Glick introduced by clicking here.
