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NEWS<br />
Work Starting on New Indianapolis<br />
Drinking Water Reservoir<br />
A public park and beach featuring paddleboarding and other activities are in the planning near the quarry where Citizens Energy aims to put a new 3.5<br />
billion-gallon reservoir near the existing Geist Reservoir in Fishers, Ind. The new reservoir, however, will not be accessible by the public due to its considerable<br />
depth. (AP Photo/Daily Journal Ryan Trares)<br />
FISHERS, Ind. (AP) — The company that provides water<br />
service to much of central Indiana is preparing to convert<br />
a quarry just northeast of Indianapolis into a reservoir for<br />
drinking water to meet the demands of the growing population<br />
over the next several decades.<br />
The city of Fishers has approved two permits Citizens Energy<br />
needed to begin preliminary work on a new 3.5 billion-gallon<br />
reservoir near the existing Geist Reservoir, the Indianapolis<br />
Star reported.<br />
Work is expected to begin late this year and last through<br />
next year, Citizens Energy spokesman Dan Considine said.<br />
Citizens Energy also owns Geist Reservoir, which dates to the<br />
1940s and holds about twice as much water as the converted<br />
quarry will store.<br />
The new $30 million reservoir will pump 25 million gallons a<br />
day of captured rainwater into Geist, which sends it to Fall<br />
Creek and the utility’s processing plants in Indianapolis.<br />
The new reservoir itself will not be open to the public because<br />
it’s too deep.<br />
But Fishers has plans to build a public park and beach near<br />
the quarry along Geist, which is open for boating, swimming<br />
and fishing. The city’s recreational project, called the<br />
Cove, could include feature a fishing pier, a lookout tower,<br />
a boardwalk, a nature area, and kayaking and paddleboard<br />
rental.<br />
Fishers spokeswoman Elrod Ashley said the city is in the<br />
process of tearing down buildings at the site previously<br />
occupied by IMI Materials, the concrete company that owned<br />
the quarry. Officials are now in the design phase of the park,<br />
which is expected to take a few years to finish.<br />
A study by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce estimates<br />
demand for water in the Indianapolis area will increase by 50<br />
million gallons per day by 2050.<br />
Volume 84 · Number <strong>11</strong> | 9
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