Ground-water problems related to landfills, salt-storage piles, underground storage tanks, chemical spills, and a variety of other sources of contamination are being addressed by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), Office of Water, under the provisions of the federal Clean Water Act.
Research on watershed problems and watershed protection across Indiana is being funded by IDEM by federal pass-through grants as part of the 104(b) NPDES Related State Program Grants, 205(j) Water Quality Planning Program, and 319 Nonpoint Source Program.
The federal Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 require that states
identify the areas that are sources of public drinking water, assess the susceptibility
of water-supply systems to contamination, and inform the public of the results.
This program is referred to as the "Source Water Assessment Program" (SWAP)
and is administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the
Office of Water Quality of IDEM.
The Indiana Geological Survey (IGS) was selected by IDEM to conduct SWAP assessments
for noncommunity, nontransient Public Water Systems (PWSs), which include schools,
churches, and businesses that serve at least 25 of the same individuals over 6 months per year.
The IGS has developed fact sheets for each individual PWS; a discussion of the
project is available, titled Source Water
Assessments at the Indiana Geological Survey.
The United States Geological Survey and various consultants are assessing source water for surface-water supplies and municipal ground-water supplies, respectively.