Drinking Water Source Protection

Efforts of a Small Town

Waterloo, Indiana

The main goal of any drinking water supplier is to provide safe and reliable water to the consumer. However, meeting this goal is a becoming more complex with the impacts of external factors such as increasing populations, the declining quality of the water sources, and the discovery of new threats to human health in the rivers, streams and aquifers. EPA estimates that water suppliers will need to spend over 20 billion dollars nationwide to reduce the threat from contaminants that can cause acute health effects. An estimated 11 billion dollars will need to be spent on rehabilitating source waters. Is there any way to change this prospect?

Municipal water suppliers and their communities are looking outward to solutions, partnering with local community members and pollution control programs to implement local management strategies to maintain or improve the quality of their water sources. Rather than waiting for the waters to be beyond repair and require more expensive treatment and rehabilitation, they see value in protecting the source.

On the banks of Cedar Creek in rural Northeastern Indiana, sits such a community that recognizes the value and importance of the water resources they use on a daily basis. The Town of Waterloo is one of the first communities in the State to take a proactive approach in protecting their drinking water sources by developing a Source Water Protection plan.

The Town of Waterloo determined that while certain protection measures are necessary within their Wellhead Protection Areas (WHPA’s), other contaminant prevention measurers are appropriate watershed-wide to protect public health and future drinking water needs. The Source Water Protection plan identifies and outlines a structured approach to managing potential sources of contamination and threatening activities that occur within the small watershed that recharges the aquifer that not only the Town, but many businesses and private homeowners tap into for their source of drinking water.

While it takes participation from all of the citizens in Waterloo to keep Source Water Protection alive, the Alliance of Indiana Rural Water, Inc. would like to recognize the outstanding efforts that DeWayne Nodine, Town Manager, and James Rodman, Waterloo Waterworks Superintendent, took to improve the quality of life for the Waterloo Community.

If you would like additional information on the efforts that the Town of Waterloo has taken or would like assistance in developing a Source Water Protection Program in your community, contact Toby Days, Source Water Specialist for the Alliance of Indiana Rural Water, Inc.