BSU finds holes — literally — in reservoir plan

MUNCIE – The Mounds Lake reservoir proposal has come under fire in a new set of critiques released in recent days by Ball State University experts in urban planning, biology, anthropology, archeology, geology and economics.

The Ball State "peer reviews" of the recent feasibility study of the proposed reservoir — which includes a plan to dam White River in Anderson, creating a seven-mile long lake reaching to Yorktown — are damning.

Among the problems found by Ball State professors and experts: A "clear lack of understanding" about the geological issues that would be involved in such a huge undertaking, including the possibility of underlying karst — limestone dissolution including sinkholes and caves — that could "contribute to additional below-dam seepage and cost overruns."

Rob Sparks of the Corporation for Economic Development, the entity behind the Mounds Lake plan, said Sunday it was no surprise that critics could find questions yet to be answered in the project as it stands now.

"We would totally agree, much more work will need to be done in order to know if Mounds Lake can be built," Sparks told The Star Press Sunday. "After all, we are just in feasibility. The technical and scientific approach of the BSU peer paper notes many areas. Most would not be addressed fully until the Phase III design work of this project."

Anderson-based CED proposed the Mounds Lake plan in March 2013 and it has moved through early phases of study and feasibility funded by $600,000 from the state.

The plan proposes creation of a seven-mile-long reservoir from Anderson to Yorktown by damming the White River in Anderson. The resulting reservoir would be 2,100 acres in size and contain 11 billion gallons of water. The project would take years to build and cost $440 million, the CED estimated.

Opponents maintain there's no proven need for the water and that ecological and environmental harm would be done by the project. Citizens Energy, the largest water utility in Indianapolis and a likely beneficiary of the water, told The Star Press recently it has not taken a public stance on the proposal.

If the project goes forward, officials from Delaware and Madison counties would form a Mounds Lake Commission to carry the idea.

"We are at a point one has to ask the question, are we open to the possibility of creating a lake on the White River?" Sparks said Sunday. "There is no guarantee it will happen, only if we try or not. If the collective community wants to continue the Phase III work, the Mounds Lake Commission would lead that effort."

Among the many faults in the CED Phase II feasibility study, released in mid-February, cited by Ball State's analysis by experts from multiple departments:

•The karst underground limestone dissolution concerns.

•A "lack of understanding about hydrogeology and available groundwater resources."

•The possibility of erosion at existing Mounds State Park points being redirected.

•"Very optimistic" land acquisition costs. Considering the project would need 1,300 acres, the cost of land mitigation is "underfunded by $54 million."

•The 3-percent interest cost for issuing bonds to fund the project is "optimistic." "If realized bond rates are at their current 45-year low of 3.62 (percent) at the the time of issuance, this project is not feasible."

•Projected cost overruns of 10 percent are not feasible considering average cost overruns on large-scale infrastructure projects of 20 to 44 percent.

•Study of the impact on cultural resources is not complete and citing about a hundred archaeological sites is far shy of the 1,000 sites possible.

•Not taken into consideration: The impact of the project on the interests of native tribes in Michigan, Kansas and Oklahoma and individuals in Indiana.

The BSU peer reviews again note a lack of stated demand for water at the scale of the Mounds Lake proposal.

"Even with a large-scale commercial customer, residential water demand does not appear to justify this investment," the financial section of the studies notes. "The determination that the Mounds Lake is financially feasible is, at best, premature."

Contact Keith Roysdon at 765-213-5828 and follow him on Twitter: @keithroysdon