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Project Details

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Project Information Sheet 1999-08

Creating a GIS for the Lake Michigan Drainage Basin in Indiana

Funding Source:	Indiana Department of Environmental Management and Indiana Geological Survey
Period of Contract:	1 Apr 1998 to 31 Mar 2000
Status:	completed — Definition of status type
Project Director:	Denver Harper

Issue

The protection of ground water and surface waters in the heavily industrialized and densely populated region of northwestern Indiana will require the ability to rapidly retrieve and query large quantities of data regarding topography, infrastructure, biology, hydrography, hydrogeology, and sources of contamination (both actual and potential).

Objective

Existing information on water supplies and contaminant sources was organized into formats that allow land-use and water-resource managers and governmental regulators to easily access and visualize such information.

Approach

Pertinent data was gathered and organized, and geographic information system (GIS) layers were developed that can be used by managers and regulators to access, visualize, and query spatial relationships between contaminant sources and threatened waters supplies.

Products

Aerial photographs and data related to shoreline stability and lake contamination were incorporated into the GIS, in cooperation with the Lake Michigan specialist of the Indiana Dept. of Natural Resources, Division of Water. The Indiana Geological Survey created a Web site that contains all available data on contaminant sources and water resources in a GIS format and database that can be queried. Internet map server technology allows interactive querying of the map layers. The Web site is available at: http://igs.indiana.edu/arcims/lrim/index.html

Benefits

This project provided an effective means of accessing and of illustrating the connection between contamination sources and water resources in northwestern Indiana.

Locations Affected:

Lake

LaPorte

Porter

Indiana House Districts Affected:

1 10 11

12 13 15

17 19 2

3 4 5

9

Indiana Senate Districts Affected:

1 2

3 4

5 6

8

Indiana Congressional Districts Affected:

Information Updated February 1, 2007

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